Chaos In France, Crowds Clash With Police And Call For Macron’s Resignation

French President Emmanuel Macron has some trouble on his hands.

On Saturday, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Paris and demanded Macron’s resignation. What sparked the anger, you ask? Macron’s fuel tax increase.

The diesel fuel tax has gone up seven euro cents (nearly eight U.S. cents) and will keep climbing in coming years, according to Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne. The tax on gasoline is set to increase by four euro cents. Gasoline currently costs about 1.64 euros a liter in Paris ($7.06 a gallon), slightly more than diesel.

Increased taxes have a way of really ticking people off.

The angry clashes, both in Paris and other towns and cities across the country, mark the eighth day of “yellow jacket” protests against the tax, but have also come to encompass a growing anger against Macron and the French ruling class — seen by many as out of touch.

The yellow jackets have become a uniform of sorts for the protesters, originating from the neon yellow jackets French drivers are required to keep in their vehicles.

Authorities said that at least 8,000 protesters flooded the Champs-Elysees in Paris alone, with 81,000 protesters in total nationwide compared to 244,000 last Saturday. Police deployed some 3,000 security forces after an attempt to march on the Elysee Palace last week.

It was pretty chaotic. A handful of people– including a couple of police officers– were injured. There were dozens of arrests. Police had to use tear gas and a water cannon to disperse the massive crowd.

Massive protests against Macron's fuel tax continue in #France. This is Paris. pic.twitter.com/4LHuPPrVTD

— NewsBlog breaking (@NBbreaking) November 24, 2018

Massive protests in France against Macron and high taxes on fuel.

These protestors are nationalists. They choose their country first, above the phobias of global bureaucratic environmental committees and shaky math.

Macron would call them unpatriotic.

pic.twitter.com/FaahlpTlYG

— e-Patriotic American (@RedLugh) November 17, 2018

‘#YellowVests’ protest grips Calais; #France🇫🇷 gears up for more unrest pic.twitter.com/NDLgtuiNYx

— srb news (@srbnews0) November 24, 2018

Demonstrators created a fire barricade and began chanting “Macron resign!” when tear gas was launched at them, sparking a brief dash. Thick black smoke was billowing into the sky and the area was completely shut down

Because Trump usually has a tweet for everything…

The large and violent French protests don’t take into account how badly the United States has been treated on Trade by the European Union or on fair and reasonable payments for our GREAT military protection. Both of these topics must be remedied soon.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 25, 2018

h/t Fox News