French Fuel-Tax Protesters Gather in Paris

(Bloomberg) -- The grassroots movement that blocked roads across France for the past week to protest higher gasoline taxes is converging on Paris and police are bracing for trouble.

Authorities have offered a downtown park for the Saturday demonstration, but local organizers say they won’t be told where to protest, leading to fears of clashes with riot police. Police expect about 30,000 people to turn up.

At 10:15 a.m. Paris time, a few hundred protesters had gathered on or near the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, television images showed. Other groups were at the Champs-de-Mars park by the Eiffel Tower. Some 3,000 riot police have been mobilized in response to the protest.

Key Insights:

• The so-called yellow jacket drivers’ protest has continued longer than most people expected and it’s starting to alarm the government. Planned for one day, the demonstrations continued all week. More than three-quarters of the public support back the protesters, according to polls.
• The movement is knitting together disparate groups united not just by their opposition to gas taxes, but anger at the president. Their complaints range from vanishing local services to the abolition of the wealth tax and the cost of living.
• The government response has been ineffective. Offers of aid for cleaner vehicles and home heating systems haven’t calmed the protests, and the administration refuses to back down from its tax plan which is aimed at reducing fuel consumption and cutting harmful emissions.

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