Despite French President Emmanuel Macron letting his people “eat cake” with a six-month suspension of the government’s new “climate change” fuel taxes, the so-called “Yellow Vest” movement which has been protesting throughout France for more than three weeks is still spitting mad.
“We didn’t want a suspension, we want the past increase in the tax on fuels to be canceled immediately,” said Yellow Vest organizer Benjamin Cauchy on BFM TV. “Suspending the tax to re-instate it in six months is taking the French people for a ride. French people aren’t sparrows waiting for crumbs from the government.”
The president’s silence drew the wrath of some. “Macron has still not deigned to talk to the people,” said Laetitia Dewalle, a Yellow Vests spokeswoman, on BFM TV. “We feel his disdain. He maintains his international engagements but doesn’t speak to the people.”
Sebastien Chenu, a spokesman for Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party which has supported the Yellow Vests in hopes of capturing their votes, said on LCI that “the French won’t be fooled. The government has understood nothing, it’s just playing for time.” -Greenwich Time
Others, however, may have been assuaged by the “limited time moratorium” on the taxes – as a Tuesday BVA opinion poll for La Tribune reveals that 70% of French citizens surveyed think the postponement justifies stopping the Yellow Vest protests.
Meanwhile, French police ordered the cancellation of two football matches scheduled for Saturday, while French interior minister Christophe Castaner told lawmakers on Tuesday that additional security personnel would reinforce the 65,000 police and gendarmes during this Saturday’s planned protests. Some police unions have floated the idea of drafting the army as backup, according to Paris-based journalist Catherine Field.
