French ‘yellow vests’ to continue protests

Bloomberg

Organisers of the demonstrations that blocked roads across France for 10 days say they are unimpressed by the government’s response and have called for another protest in Paris even after last weekend’s turned violent.
President Emmanuel Macron said he heard the “deep anger” against the rising cost of living and offered “adaptations” to controversial energy taxes, while vowing to stick with
his ambition of making France a “de-carbonated economy” by 2050.
“It’s not enough; the French were not convinced,” Eric Drouet, a spokesman for the grassroots movement dubbed the “Yellow Vests,” told reporters after meeting Energy Minister Francois de Rugy.
“There will be a demonstration next Saturday on the Champs-Elysees. Our wish is to do it every Saturday.”
The protests, which began as online petitions against gasoline taxes, have temporarily blocked roads, warehouses and fuel depots across France for almost two weeks, and those led to clashes with police in central Paris.
Eight spokespeople for the movement formed a more permanent committee and have listed demands that go beyond just lower gasoline prices to include cutting politicians’ salaries, increasing pensions, and restoring the wealth tax that Macron eliminated last year.
Drouet and Priscilla Ludosky, another organiser, met with de Rugy, but French media say other “Yellow Vests” contest the self-declared spokespeople.
In a speech on France’s 10-year energy road map in Paris, Macron said he’s seeking to respond both to the protest over the cost of living while also addressing concerns about climate change.
The government will “adapt” future fuel-tax increases to oil market moves, lowering the tax when oil spikes, he said.