Yellow vests in Paris burned motorcycles and blew up barricades on luxurious Boulevard Saint Germain, while protests against the high cost of living and perceived indifference of President Emmanuel Macron became increasingly violent. The last marches of the "yellow vests" began peacefully but then degenerated in the afternoon as the demonstrators threw everything at the riot police by blocking the bridges over the Seine.
The police fired tear gas to prevent demonstrators from crossing the river and reaching the National Assembly. A restaurant on a boat was set on fire and a policeman was injured after being hit by a bicycle, thrown from a road above the river bank.
Two months after starting blocking roads, occupying motorway toll booths and staging sometimes violent street protests in Paris, the yellow vests want to give a new impetus to a movement that had weakened during the Christmas holidays.
Macron's government, shaken by the recent riots, this week ordered the capture of several representatives of agitator groups seeking to overthrow the government. Driving the unrest is anger, particularly among low-paid workers, the squeeze on household incomes and the belief that Macron is deaf to the needs of citizens while promoting reforms designed to benefit the rich.
"They do not have the right to leave us in shit like this", Said the protester Francois Cordier at Reuters. "We are tired of having to pay all the time, we have enough of this slavery, we should be able to live with our salaries".
Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux fled his office through a back door after a small number of protesters broke into the complex and destroyed some vehicles. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said around 50.000 people protested in cities across the country, including Bordeaux, Toulouse, Rouen and Marseille.
The turnout was higher than last week but in sharp decline compared to the first weeks of the protests.
As night fell, policemen scattered dozens of yellow vests collected on Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris. The television images showed hooded youths setting fire to a car on a side street. Fortunately, the scenes of last November were not repeated when the shops were looted, the banks vandalized and the Arc de Triomphe was defaced.
Authorities say street demonstrations by anarchists, anti-capitalists and extremist groups on the fringes of the yellow vest movement have increased in recent weeks.
The protests come 18 months after Macron's mandate and his drive to redesign the economy. Last month, Macron promised tax cuts for retirees, wage increases for the poorest workers and the abandonment of planned fuel tax hikes, costing the Treasury € 10 billion. It was the first major turnaround for a newly elected president.
In the New Year speech, Macron promised, however, to continue his reform program, saying: "We can not work less, earn more, cut taxes and increase spending."
Macron also has to face the problem of the steep decline in popularity and for this reason he should soon present his plans for the coming months: “they include a national debate on ecological, fiscal and institutional issues”.