Macron Expected To Promise Change amid Riots, Economic Catastrophe

Local Editor

French President Emmanuel Macron is due to address the country Monday evening amid the ongoing violent protests that hit Paris and other French cities again at the weekend.

Meanwhile, Macron's presidency is in crisis following weeks over high-profile and dramatic demonstrations by the so-called yellow-vest protesters that have caused havoc across France.

Protests started as a demonstration against Macron's carbon tax policy and planned fuel tax increases but they have morphed into wider anti-government protests and discontent at Macron's leadership, rising living costs, his economic reforms and what many protesters say is Macron's neglect of the working and middle-classes.

Macron is expected to make an announcement on Monday evening regarding the government's response to the protests, with expectations that he could announce new economic measures aimed at addressing negative public sentiment towards his reforms.

But beyond that there is no indication what the statement will contain or whether it will be enough to placate demonstrators.

One coordinator of the "yellow vest" protests, Thierry Paul Valette, told reporters on Saturday that Macron's announcement would be too little, too late.

The government had already said that it would delay planned fuel tax increases for six months but then later went further by dropping them from the 2019 budget altogether.

Still however, that has failed to halt protests. In the fourth weekend of demonstrations on Saturday, around 125,000 were estimated to have protested around France.

In Paris, 10,000 demonstrators were believed to have taken to the streets with some throwing stones, torching cars and vandalizing shops and restaurants. Over 1,000 people were taken into custody and 264 were injured [including 39 police officers], the Interior Ministry said in a tweet on Saturday.

The government has warned of slower economic growth as a result of the protests and Bruno Le Maire, the country's finance minister, said the protests were an "economic catastrophe" for the euro zone's second largest economy.

"It's a catastrophe for business, it's a catastrophe for our economy," he said Sunday as he visited shops that had been damaged in Paris. He said the state would show the "greatest firmness" towards vandals and looters.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team