France In Chaos: Macron Mulling State Of Emergency

Paris clean-up begins: Graffiti is removed from Arc de Triomphe after protests

Graffiti was removed from the Arc de Triomphe today after anti-Macron protesters stormed through Paris on Saturday. 

The protesters occupied the city centre and torched cars, smashed windows with clubs and axes and stole an assault rifle from riot police firing tear gas and water cannon in France's worst urban rioting for years.

The French President - who faced calls to resign from protesters who scrawled anti-Macron slogans on the Arc de Triomphe - today vowed to bring the rioters to justice as he inspected wreckage on the Champs-Elysees. 

The 'yellow vest' protests, which began as a rebellion against a fuel tax hike but have expanded into weeks of civil unrest, spread across the country yesterday and ended with 133 people injured, including 23 police officers, and 412 arrested last night.

Macron was jeered by lingering yellow-vest supporters before chairing a crisis meeting with ministers, amid calls to declare a state of emergency or even send in the army to quell the violence.

Macron, who went to Paris as soon as he returned from the G20 in Argentina today, held talks with his prime minister and interior minister at the Elysee Palace nearby.

Images showed the inside of the Arc de Triomphe ransacked, with a statue of Marianne - a symbol of the French republic - smashed and graffiti sprawled on the exterior. 

Under heavy security, the French leader spoke with police and firefighters on one of the avenues near the Champs-Elysees, with some yellow-jacketed protesters nearby shouting: 'Macron resign!'

The French President at the Arc de Triomphe today standing in front of a message saying 'Macron - we want your a**e'

France In Chaos; Macron Mulling State Of Emergency Amid "Yellow Vest" Protests; "All Options" Considered


French President Emmanuel Macron will hold an emergency meeting of senior ministers on Sunday following the worst unrest Paris has seen in decades on Saturday.

Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux told France's Europe 1 radio that a state of emergency may be imposed to prevent "serious outbursts of violence" after thousands of masked "Yellow Vest" protesters fought with police, and set fires to cars, houses and banks in the worst disturbances France's capital has seen since 1968, when Macron's wife was fifteen - the same age the French president was when they met. 

Griveaux had indicated the Macron administration was considering imposing a state of emergency. The president was open to dialogue, he said, but would not reverse policy reforms.

“We won’t change course. We are certain of that,” he told Europe 1 radio. -Reuters

Demonstrators on Saturday were filmed destroing a police van and other vehicles, while other videos showed burning cars and police firing some 10,000 tear gas canisters as well as stun grenades to break up the protests. 

As Sliman notes, Macron can either cave to the protesters and face criticism by his opponents, or he can put down the dissent by force. "In the second scenario, Macron will still come out loser, because what everyone will remember is that he wrestled with the popular classes. He would be victorious, but at the cost of having crushed them," Sliman said. 

The reported size of the protest has varied between 36,000 and 75,000 yellow vests, while last week saw over 110,000 protesters at the Champs-Elysées in central Paris. Over 400 arrests were made and 113 injured in Saturday's unrest which began on November 17 over a hike in diesel taxes, but has grown to a general protest of Macron and his government. Macron's popularity rating has plummeted to just 26%, while opinion polls for the 2019 parliament elections predict that right-wing Marine Le Pen's National Rally party will be level - or far ahead - from Macron's La République En Marche. 

"The violence is increasing at an exponential rate," said Claude, a resident in the affluent 16th district according to Reuters. "The state is losing control, it is scary. They cannot let this happen. Maybe the army should intervene."

Meanwhile, Paris burns...