Yellow vests movement
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
show
This article
may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in French.
(November 2018) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be
unreliable. The
last updates to this article
may not reflect the most current information. Please feel free to
improve this article or discuss changes on the
talk page.
(December 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Yellow vests movement
Gilets jaunes protests
A
gilets jaunes demonstration in
Vesoul, eastern France
Date 17 November 2018 – ongoing
Location
France (including
Réunion)
Other countries:
[show]
Caused by
Goals
- Decrease of fuel and motor taxes[10]
- Improved standards of living
- Resignation of President Emmanuel Macron and his government
- End to unpopular austerity measures
- Government transparency and accountability to the working and middle classes
Methods Protests,
civil disobedience,
barricades, blocking traffic, disabling
radars,
rioting,
[11][12] vandalism,
[13]arson[14][15] and looting.
[16]Status Ongoing, as of 5 December 2018.
[17]Concessions
given Cancellation of the gas tax and a six-month moratorium on diesel and gasoline price changes by the French government
[17]Number
287,710 protesters at the peak (per French interior ministry)
[18]
Casualties Death(s) 4 civilians (in France)
[19]Injuries 1000+ civilians
~ 200+ injured police officers
The
yellow vests movement (
French:
Mouvement des gilets jaunes, pronounced
[ʒilɛ ʒon]), also referred to as the
yellow jacket movement in English, is a protest movement that began with demonstrations in France on Saturday, 17 November 2018 and subsequently spread to nearby countries (e.g.
Italy (
Italian:
gilet gialli),
Belgium and the
Netherlands (
Dutch:
gele hesjes)).
Galvanized by rising fuel prices, the high
cost of living and claims that a disproportionate burden of the government's tax reforms were falling on the working and middle classes
[20][21][22] (especially those in rural and
peri-urban areas),
[6][23]protesters called for the end of such changes and the resignation of the
President of France,
Emmanuel Macron.
The movement has been very visible in
French cities, but rural areas have been unusually mobilized in the protest. The yellow vest was chosen as a symbol because all motorists had been required by law—since 2008—to have
high-visibility vests in their vehicles when driving. As a result, reflective vests have become widely available, inexpensive and symbolic.
[10]
Contents
Background
Diesel
Further information:
Economic history of France § Since 1944
Since the 1950s, the French government has subsidized the production of
diesel engines. In particular, since 1980
Peugeothas been at the forefront of diesel technology. A reduction in
VAT taxes for corporate fleets also increased the prevalence of diesel cars in France.
[24]
Fuel prices
The price of petrol (SP95-E10) decreased during the year 2018, from 1,4682 €/L in January to 1,4305 euro in the last week of November.
[25] The price of petrol and diesel fuel per litre increased by 15% and 23% respectively between October 2017 and October 2018.
[26] The world market purchasing price of petrol for distributors increased by 28% over the previous year; for diesel, by 35%. Costs of distribution increased by 40%. VAT included, diesel taxes increased by 14% over one year and petrol taxes by 7.5%.
[26] The tax increase had been 7.6 cents per litre on diesel and 3.9 cents on petrol in 2018, with a further increase of 6.5 cents on diesel and 2.9 cents on petrol planned for 1 January 2019.
[27][28]
The taxes collected on the sale of fuel are:
- The domestic consumption tax on energy products (TICPE), which is not calculated based on the price of oil, but rather at a fixed rate by volume. Part of this tax, paid at the pump, goes to the regional governments, while another portion goes to the national government. Since 2014, this tax has included a carbon component—increased each year—in an effort to reduce fossil-fuel consumption. The TICPE for diesel fuel was raised sharply in 2017 and 2018 to bring it to the same level as the tax on petrol.
- Value added tax (VAT), calculated on the sum of the price excluding tax and the TICPE. Its rate has been stable at 20% since 2014, after having been at 19.6% between 2000 and 2014.
The protest movement against fuel prices mainly concerns individuals, as a number of professions and activities benefit from partial or total exemptions from TICPE.
[29][30]
The protesters criticize
Édouard Philippe's second government for making individuals support the bulk of the cost of the carbon tax. As the carbon tax has progressively been ramping up to meet ecological objectives, many who have chosen fossil-fuel-based heating for their homes, outside of city centers—where a car is required—are displeased. President Macron attempted to dispel these concerns in early November by offering special subsidies and incentives.
[31]
Diesel prices in France increased by 16% in 2018, with taxes on both
petrol and diesel increasing at the same time and a further tax increase planned for 2019, making diesel as expensive as petrol.
[32] President Emmanuel Macron is bearing the brunt of the protesters' anger for his extension of policies implemented under
François Hollande's government.
[32]
Petrol prices in France from 1960 to 2017
-
Petrol prices in France (euros)
-
Petrol prices in France (euros, adjusted for inflation)
A
high-visibility vest, the key symbol of the protests
Other non-union protests
One of the first known demonstrations in France against the taxation of petrol prices dates back to 1933 in
Lille. The movement against tax increases also evokes the "
poujadism" of the 1950s, which mobilized the middle classes and was articulated around a tax revolt. "Slow-down movements" were also organized in the 1970s. In July
1992, such a movement was set up to protest against the introduction of the points-based permit.
[33]
Economic reforms
The protesters claim that the fuel tax is intended to finance tax cuts for big business, with some critics such as Dania Koleilat Khatib claiming that spending should be cut instead.
[34][35][36] Macron claimed that the goal of the economic reform program is to increase France's competitiveness in the global economy,
[37] but he claims that the fuel tax is intended to stop global warming.
[38] An online poll conducted on 27-28 November 2018 indicated that roughly 84% of French adults supported the yellow jacket movement, and 78% found Macron's defensive speech unconvincing.
[39]
Organisation
A woman from the
Seine-et-Marne department started a petition on the
change.org website in May 2018 that reached 300,000 signatures by mid-October. Parallel to this petition, two men from the same department launched a
Facebook event for 17 November to "block all roads" and thus protest against an increase in fuel prices they considered excessive, stating that this increase was the result of the tax increase. One of the viral videos around this group launched the idea of using yellow jackets.
[40] According to French scholar Béatrice Giblin, comparisons between the
gilets jaunes and the
Bonnets Rouges—who opposed a new eco-tax in 2013—were inapt because the latter "had been taken in hand by real
leaders, such as the mayor of
Carhaix, or the great bosses of Brittany" whereas that is not the case for the yellow jackets.
[41] The yellow jacket movement is not associated with a specific political party or trade union and has spread largely by social media.
[42]
Protests
17 November
A protest on 17 November cutting the road near
Belfort
The protests began on 17 November 2018, and attracted over 300,000 people across France, with protesters constructing barricades and blocking roads.
[43][27] According to John Lichfield, a journalist who witnessed the riots, these demonstrations were not protests but an insurrection.
[44]
In addition to roads, protesters also blocked as many as ten fuel depots.
[45] On this first day of protests, a 63-year old pensioner was run over by a motorist in
Le Pont-de-Beauvoisin while she was demonstrating at the roundabout that allows access to a commercial zone.
[40][46] A motorcyclist died after being struck the same day by a van trying to get around a barricade.
[47] By 21 November, 585 civilians had been injured, sixteen severely, and 115 police officers, three seriously.
[48]
Protests also occurred in the French
overseas region of
Réunion, where the situation deteriorated into looting and riots. Schools on the island were closed for three days after to protesters blocked access to roads. On 21 November, President Macron ordered the deployment of troops to the island to calm the violence.
[49]
Gilets jaunes protesting against motorists on French Motorway
A51, near
Grenoble,
Isère
24 November
With the protests in Paris having raised tensions the previous week, the Interior Ministry agreed to allow a gathering on 24 November at the
Champ de Mars.
[49] The protests attracted 106,000 people all across France,
[50] only 8,000 of whom were in Paris, where the protests turned violent. Protesters lit fires in the streets, tore down signs, built barricades and pulled up cobblestones. Police resorted to
tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters.
[27]
On 29 November,
François Ruffin, the founder of hard-left
Fakir (fr), organised a mobilizing meeting, at which
Frédéric Lordon spoke, saying "If the
Nuitdeboutistes who got all wound up into deforestation and anti-specist commissions can't get moving when
thishappens, then they are the last of the last".
[51]
1 December "Act III"
A protest called "Act 3 - Macron Quits" was organised for 1 December.
[52]
Traffic on the highway linking
Marseille to Paris (
A6) was stopped north of
Lyon through part of the 1–2 December weekend.
[53][54]
In Marseille, where demonstrations have been frequent since the 5 November collapse of a building and the evacuation of the surrounding neighborhood,
[55] an 80-year-old Algerian woman trying to close her shutters was hit by shards from a police tear gas canister, later dying while in surgery.
[19][56] A second motorist was killed on the third weekend after crashing his van into stopped lorries at a barricade on the
Arles bypass.
[47]
Urban property damage
Tags in Paris after the riots of 1 December
On 26 November, an official estimated that the riots in Paris during the two previous days had cost up to €1.5m in damage. Two hundred additional workers were assigned to assist with the cleanup and repair work.
[57] More than 100 cars were burned in Paris during the protest on 1 December, and the
Arc de Triomphe was vandalised.
[44] On the Monday following the 1 December Paris riots,
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo estimated the property damages at €3-€4m.
[19]
Outside France
According to Kim Willsher of
The Guardian, the
gilets jaunes protest has inspired imitation in Italy. She cites an Italian organizer saying, "We are inspired by the French
gilet jaunes, [...] But we are motivated by other issues. We, unlike the French, support our government. What we protest against is Europe. We want Europe to no longer interfere with Italian politics."
[57]
Riot police in Brussels were pelted with
billiard balls,
cobblestones and rocks on 30 November, and responded with water cannons; 60 arrests were made for disturbing the public order.
[58] Several oil depots had been blocked in
Wallonia as of 16 November 2018, though protesters' attempts to block the Russian
Lukoil depot in Brussels were quickly thwarted by police.
[1] The movement is now working to form a party for the
Belgian federal elections in 2019 under the name
Mouvement citoyen belge.
[59][1]
On 1 December, "yellow vest" demonstrators protested in the
Dutch cities of
The Hague,
Nijmegen,
Maastricht,
Alkmaar,
Leeuwarden and
Groningen.
[2] On 5 December, Yellow Jacket-inspired
protesters demonstrated in
Basra,
Iraq, for more job opportunities and better services.
[5]
Reactions
This section needs to be
updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.
(December 2018)
In late November 2018, polls showed that the movement has widespread support in France (ranging from 73%
[60] to 84%).
[42] An opinion poll conducted after 1 December events found that 72% of French people supported the "gilets jaunes" and that 85% were opposed to the violence in Paris.
[61]
Truckers have been targeted by protesters, and the trucking industry has made their displeasure with the situation known to the government in an open letter.
[30]
The
Minister of the Interior,
Christophe Castaner, blamed
Marine Le Pen, Macron's opponent in the
2017 presidential election, and her
Rassemblement National party for the violence on 24 November after she had reportedly urged people to go to the Champs Élysées.
[50] Le Pen responded that letting people assemble on the
Champs Élysées was the government's responsibility and accused the Minister of the Interior of trying to increase the tension to discredit the movement.
[50]
Although President Macron had been insisting that the fuel tax increases would go through as planned, on 4 December the government announced that the tax hikes would be put on hold, with Prime Minister Édouard Philippe saying that "no tax deserves to endanger the unity of the nation".
[62]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_vests_movement
.jpg)
