About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

14 Replies to “French government Cabinet Spokesman on the smashing of his office door”

  2. WSJ – French ‘Yellow Vest’ Protests Rebound After Holiday Lull

    Around 50,000 take to the streets as images of rioting and violence dominate airwaves and social media

    […]The protests have knocked a 10th of a percentage point off fourth-quarter growth projections for the French economy, after stores across the capital were forced to close on multiple Saturdays during the height of the holiday shopping season.

    “I would like all of those who believe in democracy, in the sovereign representation of the French people to come together and say ‘enough,’” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Sunday. “The crisis is costing the French economy dearly…Our interest is for this to stop as soon as possible.”

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/french-yellow-vest-protests-rebound-after-holiday-lull-11546802192

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    BBC – French Gilets Jaunes: Ministry broken into amid fresh protests

    A French government spokesman was evacuated from his office as violence broke out during “yellow vests” protests in Paris and other cities.

    Benjamin Griveaux said he and his team had had to escape through a back door after a construction vehicle was used to ram the building’s entrance.

    There were clashes between police and protesters on what was the first protest of the new year.

    President Emmanuel Macron condemned the violence, urging “debate and dialogue”.

    What began as a protest about a fuel tax back in November has escalated into widespread anger at rising living costs.

    Mr Griveaux said around a dozen individuals – some wearing black, some in yellow vests – used a small construction vehicle they found in the street to break through the door into the government compound. They also broke some windows and damaged some cars.

    He and his team were led through a back entrance and took refuge in a hotel nearby.

    President Macron tweeted his condemnation, saying France’s “guardians, its representatives, its symbols” were being attacked.

    […]Mr Macron made a raft of economic concessions in December to appease the protesters. But he struck a defiant tone in his new year address to the nation, saying the government would push on with its reform programme, and would “make no allowances in guaranteeing public order.”[…]

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46771363

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    NYT – Violence Surges as Yellow Vests Attack French Government Ministry

    The first Yellow Vest demonstration of the new year reached a new level of violence on Saturday as a government ministry building was attacked and the minister evacuated out the back door. What started two months ago as a protest over gas taxes has turned into a more general attack on the French government.

    The minister, the chief government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux, told French television that Yellow Vest protesters and “men dressed in black” — the so-called casseurs, or “breakers,” who have latched onto the movement — commandeered a construction vehicle and broke down the door of the Left Bank building. They then entered a courtyard and broke several windows, he said.

    The rare intrusion — the last such attack on a government building by protesters was in 1999 — took place on a day of protests throughout France that started peacefully but degenerated into violence.

    […]Over 3,000 turned out in Paris. The numbers were down sharply from the protest’s first weeks,

    Video posted to social media showed protesters fighting hand to hand with club-wielding police officers. Protesters dragged two officers to the ground and kicked them repeatedly, the video showed.

    […]Underscoring the seriousness of Saturday’s protests, President Emmanuel Macron reacted sharply and quickly on Twitter. “Once again, the republic was attacked with extreme violence — its guardians, its representatives, its symbols,” Mr. Macron wrote.

    […]But it was in Paris that the protests broke new ground with the attack on the ministry building along Rue de Grenelle, the heart of official France, where a number of important government offices are located.

    A shaken-looking Mr. Griveaux was interviewed on French television after he was evacuated from his offices.

    “It wasn’t me who was attacked, it was the republic” and “the house of France,” he said.

    Mr. Griveaux, the government’s most familiar face on television, has also been the most aggressive in adopting Mr. Macron’s harsh new line against the protest movement. In a New Year’s address, Mr. Macron vowed to restore order “without compromise.”

    On Friday, Mr. Griveaux declared that the Yellow Vest movement had become “the province of agitators who want upheaval, and, at bottom, to overthrow the government.” A watchword of the protest movement has been a demand that Mr. Macron resign.

    […]In Rennes, the capital of Brittany, protesters broke a door to city hall.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/05/world/europe/yellow-vests-protests-france-paris.html
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    Rennes – JAN 05 2019

  4. Gilets jaunes. Le peuple de France ne vous fait plus confiance. Paris /France – 05 Janvier 2019