French grassroots protest is Macron’s biggest challenge

Bloomberg

Emmanuel Macron swept aside France’s traditional parties to win the presidency. He tamed unions as he reformed the labour market and income tax, all without much mass protest.
Now though, his presidency is being shaken by a grassroots movement with no real leadership. Organised through social media, the so-called yellow jackets have shut down key transport links at times this week and on Saturday police used tear gas and water cannons to contain thousands of protesters on the Champs-Elysees who lit fires and ripped up cobblestones. Polls show they have the support of three-quarters of the French.
While Macron has already succeeded in pushing through unpopular reforms his predecessors shied away from, this week’s protests show the greater opposition he’s likely to face next year when he aims to overhaul the country’s retirement system.
An increase in gasoline taxes triggered the demonstrations, named after the high-visibility safety vests drivers need to keep in their cars. But the complaints against Macron go much further.
The government on next Tuesday will announce an energy plan setting targets for reducing dependence on nuclear energy and fossil fuels. While the government won’t roll back the gasoline taxes, it plans incentives for buying cleaner cars and heating systems, has forgone a trucking tax, and will organise local debates to gauge public opinion, Energy Minister Francois de Rugy said.
Those measures won’t be enough for the protesters who came to Paris.
“This movement has gone too far to be satisfied by re-touching a tax here or there,” said
Jean-Yves, a 49-year-old from Picardy, in northern France. “Macron never listens anyway. All he wants to do is give to his rich friends and take from us.” Jean-Yves, who wouldn’t give his last name because he works for the local government, said he’ll be back for further protests.
Other protesters interviewed between burst of tear gas and the occasional police charge on the Champs-Elysees avenue agreed the protests were about much more than the gasoline tax: they are fed up with declining services, flat wages and pensions, and feel the price of everything else is going up. “Macron has to come meet people whose salaries don’t stretch to the end of the month,” said Xavier Jiret, a 48-year-old warehouse worker.
Crowds that were prevented by police from nearing the president’s Elysee Palace frequently broke into chants of “Macron Resign!”
The protests have shown the divide between Macron’s supporters who tend to live in thriving urban areas and don’t rely on their cars, and small towns where driving is a necessity.
They’ve also cast a crude light on Macron’s novelty: coming from outside the mainstream parties was an advantage in his May 2017 election win, but it also means his movement has no historical ties to local communities.