Learning With: ‘French Police Crack Down on ‘Yellow Vests’ With Tear Gas and Over a Thousand Arrests’

Based on French President Macron's actions; the protesters will ultimately pressure the French government into meeting their demands. In this past week, Macron has made an address to the people in which he announced multiple subsidies for some minimum wage workers as well as other groups like retirees. However, the people of France believe that these measures are insufficient and continue demanding change. In a country with a proud history of revolutions against leaders that do not represent the people, though it will very probably end without such drastic measures, the riots have started a movement in France against Macron's leadership and at the very least Macron's political career is on the line. Macron will appease the crowd to save his career.

Although this is an extremely difficult situation,the French government handled this very poorly and lacks the tact required to compromise with the angered citizens.The government must address the situation instead of hiding behind the massive police force that they employ.The riots may be dying down, but they certainly have not stopped yet, even after the repeal of the gas tax-because it has never been solely about the tax, and citizens realize that the government’s elitist tendencies are still present and will cause more chaos in the future.In these recent events, the government shows that it refuses to acknowledge the demands and concerns of its citizens unless they are accompanied by violence.The government has refused to compromise in the past, and yet suddenly after the Yellow Vest’s violent displays, they take down the gas tax.This creates a precedent that will only spark more violence in the future, because people will believe that if they are destructive enough the government will give up and give way.The government hardly recognizes this huge issue that they themselves have created. In addition to this, President Macron has still not made a statement about the Yellow Vests, and many protesters consider this to exemplify his cowardice, especially in combination with the increased police forces.Had Macron made a statement early on, he would not be considered a joke to the citizens.Clearly, the government needs to take more preemptive action to prevent future violence.

The yellow vest protests against the gas tax forced the French government to repeal it in an effort to stop the riots in Paris and other French cities. The protests have continued because this decision sends the message that the government will give in to the public’s demands. Although these riots were chaotic and in some areas destructive, I believe that they were necessary because it is the only way for the people to create change. I am against some of the actions that occurred during the riots, including flipping cars, stealing from stores, and trying to set buildings on fire. At the same time it is hard to blame them for being angry with a government that is clearly out of touch with the common people, and not concerned with their needs. France already has too many taxes and restrictions, and the idea of having higher gas tax is preposterous. The number of protesters is strong, but have slowly decreased over the past few weeks. I doubt that there will be enough protesters in the next few weeks to force the government to meet more demands, but if people did not get tired of protesting, then they could definitely achieve more changes that they want.

i mean i agree with the yellow vests but they are doing it all wrong they are getting people and them selfs hurt for no reason they could make it easier and more safe if they got a couple people and brought it up to the president.

it looks like they are protesting with yellow vest on. And there are like gas bombs .

We agree with the "yellow vests" that if they disagree with the government, they can manifest themselves. But we believe that it is being excessive and violent and should be peacefully. In the same way it is probably that the police measures were excessive, but they didn´t have better options. We hope that there will not be violence and that French President Emmanuel Macron will not raise the fuel tax, since raising taxes hurts the purchasing power of the people. One of its demands is to increase purchasing power. The name 'yellow vests' is given because protesters wear reflective garments like those used by motorists in France in case of an incident on the road to have greater visibility.

After reading the article "How France’s ‘Yellow Vests’ Differ From Populist Movements Elsewhere”, I think that it is likely for France to get their decided outcome. I think that this is possible because President Emmanuel Macron will most likely not be able to tolerate these acts of vandalism or anger much longer. Although all things considered, the French could've taken a more peaceful approach.

The French people are technically not incorrect, although there is definitely a more peaceful way to resolve this. It is unsettling that so many people are reacting in such violent ways to this problem. What makes it worse is that the casseurs took advantage of the protests and started to make things go haywire. It was chaos. Many people were caught up in the mess when they didn't want to. I agree that they should express what they believe, but should also attempt to stop the ones that are taking the situation turning it violent.

I think that the French people aren't wrong in their decisions to have these protests but I do think that they need to be a lot more peaceful because burning down buildings and looting places isn't that way at all to handle something like this. I can agree though that the president (Macron) needs to listen more because many people are becoming very harmed by this problem and if he would listen to these people than maybe these protests would stop and they could just settle on agreements.

I think that the people are partially correct in their protests. They should be able to freely express their feelings. But the protests have gotten violent, and I think that people are getting a little over the top with all of their acts

I believe the French people should perform these protests for their rights and government but the protests should be more peaceful. Looting and setting fires should also not be allowed. President Macron needs to listen to the citizens of his country and give them what they want.

I think that the people of France will not get the fuel tax will not get dropped. Causing chaos around the city will more than likely not help them get their way. Perhaps the people and the gov. will come to a compromise. But, there is also a chance that Macron will maybe offer them the choice to give ideas to for why they should get rid of the fuel tax. Offering a solution to the problem may work in their favor.

I think that almost no matter what the "Yellow Vests" will get something they want because either Mr. Macron will take action and give them what they are protesting for, Macron will resign, or Macron will lose a fair amount of support. The only outcome that doesn't give the "Yellow Vests" what they want is Macron finding a scapegoat and blaming it all on them, there for getting away clean. One such scapegoat would be blaming the French Parliament. Overall I feel that Mr. Macron is in a tight corner and that the protesters have gained the upper hand.

I feel that the people fo France will most likely not achieve their desired outcome because if they want to reach their goal, it would be best for them to not be as chaotic, rather be more peaceful to get their message around. With this, the government will most likely not make any changes because of the way people are acting. It is definitely not wrong to speak out, but it would be way better to do it peacefully than to make a racket in the community and disturb from the everyday activities many are trying to practice.

I think that the protesters in France will achieve their desired outcome, in a few months, the most amount of time being a year. Even though a lot of violence has occurred, I know they will not achieve their desired outcome very quickly. A lot of the violence has ended, and even 4 people were killed. All of this violence, and even death, is very unnecessary. The Macron government has already suspended the fuel tax, and because of the violence and because of how large a number of protesters there are, more violence and protests are going to occur, and the crowd is going to just get bigger. So, I believe that the protesters will achieve their goal. Though, I am more hopeful that an agreement can be met and that this violence can just end.

The Yellow Vest movement is different from other current movements in Europe, because it is about the large economic gap between the affluent and the middle class and poor instead of the usual focuses of nationalism and immigration. In addition, the movement is "not tethered to a political party...the uprising is instead mostly organic and spontaneous" as stated in, How France’s ‘Yellow Vests’ Differ From Populist Movements Elsewhere. I believe that the likelihood that the protesters of France will achieve their desired outcome is high, because the government cannot no longer hold off and ignore the situation due to the recent riots and violence caused by these protest. This is shown when Mr. Macron was said to address the protest next week out of remaining silent in regards to this situation. In my opinion though, I feel like addressing the protest now is still a bad idea. When I first read the article, I thought of Pakistan's peace deal with the Taliban a few years ago. The paper Dawn wrote that is was ‘a disastrous signal–fight the state militarily and it will give you what you want and get nothing in return’. This is related to the protest; first the French government did little to address the protest, but when violence spurred, they decide to notice. I feel this was wrong, and the government should have took action sooner, but there is no other choice now. It is to either ignore the protest, or send the message that the government will only care if you use violence.

My thoughts go out to the people who are suffering. Whether it be the innocent civilians caught in the crossfire. The government, or the protesters. I do see both side of the story. For one, if gas is popular or is there is a greater demand, or if there is a smaller supply, or just for any other reasons, I could see the point that gas needs to be more expensive. I can also see the point that the protesters are making that the gas is too high. People with lower incomes that need a reliable source of transportation can not afford to pay extra money for gas.

I feel incredibly bad for the innocent civilians caught in the middle of this turmoil, especially those who are getting injured for no reason. I don't think that the people behind these protests are thinking this through , because if they were then they would realize that no matter how good your cause is, violence makes you seem like the bad guy. Because of this, I don't think that the government will side with them even if they do agree wit the massage.

It is hard to know where to stand on this issue. Preventing climate change is very important, so the increases in gas prices in an attempt to steer people away from gas was, in a way, a good idea. However, there are many people living in poor, rural communities who simply can not afford or access other methods of transportation, such as electric cars or public transportation, which makes this tax unfair. It is good that people are standing up for what they need to live in these "Yellow Vest" protests. If they do nothing about it, their situation will never change. It is important for them to know that their voices and their lives matter, and that they need to stand up for what is right. However, these protests have gotten too violent, and they are now harming innocent bystanders, such as the owners of the businesses that were looted, or the owners of the cars that were burned. These violent protests also caused great conflict for many French citizens because of all the roads and subway stations that were closed for safety reasons. That is completely unfair. These protestors don't need to cause difficulty for people who did nothing wrong. There are many different sides to the story, and it is not easy to completely support only one, and not see any good in the others. I think that both the government and the "Yellow Vest" protestors have a lot of work to do if this conflict is ever going to be resolved.

While in other countries, there are protests on migration, race, and discrimination (etc.), in France, there are protests on the economic side of the spectrum -- on low income and the ability, or rather inability, for people to pay their bills. I believe it is possible that the people of France will achieve their desired outcome, but only if enough people protest and if Macron believes that the people want it their way and that they will never give up until they get it their way. It might take a few months, maximum, if these protests keep going on like this -- vandalizing and wrecking cars/property is not the way to go. Also, the government is not listening to the people and is doing as it pleases. The government does not care that the people of France are suffering and are not getting their way. That for these people, money might actually be an issue. That these people need to have a say in things like this. Thus, if these wrecking, devastating disasters keep going on, the government will DEFINITELY listen to the people of France and will DEFINITELY allow them to put a word in.

The Yellow Vest movement is different from other movements around the world is that "It is not tethered to a political party, let alone to a right-wing one. It is not focusing on race or migration, and those issues do not appear on the Yellow Vests’ list of complaints. It is not led by a single fire-breathing leader. Nationalism is not on the agenda. The uprising is instead mostly organic, spontaneous and self-determined. It is mostly about economic class. It is about the inability to pay the bills." Or in other words, the Yellow Vest movement is different from othe movements because it has many different mtives than the other current movements.

I feel bad for the people that are stuck in the crossfire. They have to deal with protests out on their streets while doing their daily routine. Also, the gas taxes should go down if not removed because at the end of the article, people state that they are being taxed on everything. The yellow vests are doing the right thing not in the right way though. They should make the protest more peaceful which would give the result for the greater good. Violence is notthe answer.

I believe that the protesters in France will, eventually, get what they want. These protests began pretty much peaceful but grew into a violent outrage- for the price of gas! Civilians are being threatened in the crossfire between these protesters and the government which isn’t fair to them. The protesters are becoming more and more violent, flipping over cars and vandalizing building which is going to affect their reputation. As a result, I think the government will try to reach a compromise in order to save their reputation.

The difference between the Yellow Vests movement and other current movements in Europe is that this revolt is about the large economic gap between the rich and the poor, and France's declining living standards. The protestors want their salaries to go up, and their taxes to go down. In other places, it is mainly about race, migration, or nationalism issues. However, I think it is very likely the government will, in fact, listen to the Yellow Vests, and lower the taxes on fuel and other items. Nevertheless, because they initially raised the prices to discourage the constant use of diesel fuel, they will put forth many efforts to try and help the environment. If these protests continue, and more people get killed or injured, the government will, in fact, yield to some of their requests, but for the most part, I see them not completely going one way, but meeting in the middle to achieve a mutual concession.

I think that the protestors in France will not achieve their goals for several reasons. One reason is that the protestors have differing views even amongst themselves, therefore, making a common goaal unlikely, or even unachievable. The second reason is that Macron will not listen to their protests, but rather try to silence them by raising and decreasing the taxes over and over again in an attempt to try to maintain a neutral state. The last reason is that the movement that is happening in France right now has no leader, and is essentially just a mob of people protesting. Withougtht a leader, the protest has no body to it, and can therefore not really convey their thoughts to Macron. In conclusion, those are the reasons why the Yellow Vest movemebnt in France will not be successful.

This is an interesting case because you can see both sides and the problem affects a vast majority. One one side, you see the people are tired of being fined and paying high taxes. They are just trying to survive and it becomes extremely hard on a low income. The issue was just the outlet for the people to come forth with all their problems, and with an unresponsive government, it is even more enraging. On the other hand, the government is trying to plan out their steps carefully. I believe it is good that they announced they would be addressing the matter since it gives them time to plan out what they are going to do, while it gives more assurance to the citizens. They are in a tight spot since they can't just throw money away that they have been relying on to pay for other things. It's like a Jenga tower. The government has carefully built the structure, using more blocks (money) to make it taller and stable, even at the expense of the people. However, now that the people want to lower the costs of living, or taking away the crucial blocks supporting the Jenga tower, the structure will collapse.

Unlike past protests the yellow vests have a different cause rather than the more common migration, race, discrimination, or political parties but the low income and inability to pay their taxes. I can totally see both sides of the equation here. The yellow vests want change as the gas tax is just too much for them to pay because they don't get that much money in the first place. They are all not in poverty but, it is a great inconvenience. But the president wants an Eco Friendly country and have placed the gas tax to make an effort to get people to switch from gas to their alternative over there( i am guessing electric). Gas severely hurts our atmosphere and electric cars would be a great help in helping us stop climate change. I have feelings for the people, However i also agree with this tax to be honest. i think that global warming is an extremely important issue we have to tend to ASAP. With our co2 levels in our atmosphere rising due to cars (gas cars) and thoes factories like the ones in china, oceans dirtying, trees getting chopped on extreme ammounts, and our trash are main aspects we have to stop. I hope the yellow vests in france understand why this tax is there in the first place, even though the gas is cheaper we can just buy an electric car and not pay the tax and help the earth its as simple as that. I came up with a happy medium i guess which is there should be tax but have it so its cheaper so people could have enough money to buy an electric car and not pay

We just recently had our own problem with the country, with thousands of migrants fleeing in, but this is a whole other worse situation. The protesters are different from the migrants at are borders, they are dangerous. With so many violent protesters burning down houses it is safe to say that president Emmanuel did an alright job handling the protests. Even though tear gas and riot shields are dangerous they will most likely not kill someone, unlike burning houses. If police start to get violent it is his responsibility, but he cannot control them. In addition I do think President Emmanuel has to take action and listen to what the protesters have to say, to come up with a reasonable conclusion.

Things are getting out of hand at the protests and they are getting pretty violent, I think the police will eventually get it under control though. Even this has gone possibly too far, I think this might help and increase the likelihood that the protesters in France achieve their desired outcome. I believe this because I think the Government and Mr. Macron would try their best to keep the people happy so this won't reoccur or happen again. I think the Yellow Vest movement would have been a safer and more peaceful option, and it would have gotten their voices out and heard. Even this could have happened it might not have changed anything, the taxes may stay the same and the people might have gotten more taxes. Even though I dislike and frown upon the violence, I think it was the best choice for the protesters to get what they want.

There is a large difference between the protests happening in France and the protests happening in other countries, such as Italy and Britain- the protests happening in France are not centered around political topics, or are even connected to a political party, they are simply about the inability to pay ridiculously high bills and taxes! I cannot determine at this moment whether the protests will permanently change laws on certain taxes, but I can say this- usually in situations like this, the government squashes out the voices of the people, and continues going on the same way, sometimes even in a worse way for the people. In these situations, sometimes, it takes a very long time to change whatever the people originally wanted to change, but if they persist, they may get their way!

My thoughts go out to the people who are suffering. Whether it be the government, the protesters, or the innocent civilians caught in the crossfire. I can feel both sides of the story. For one, if gas is popular or is there is a greater demand, or if there is a smaller supply, or just for any other reasons, I could see the point that gas needs to be more expensive. However, I can also see the point that the protesters are making: the gas price is too high. People with lower incomes that need a reliable source of transportation can not afford to pay extra money for gas just to get to work so they can provide a living for themselves and their families. The government should not be allowed to negatively interfere with that system. All in all, I think that the government will be forced to drop the tax just due to publicity. Basically, they have all the deaths and injuries on their hands because they imposed the tax in the first place. However, if they lower or get rid of the tax, the government could lose critical funds. The French government has to choose between the two sides - what is the lesser of 2 evils. People should not have to die, though, for an issue with the government.

The yellow vest movement is different than other movements because it's not about one issue such as migration, race, discrimination, or political parties but rather the low income and inability to pay the bills.

The difference between Yellow Vests movement and other current movements in Europe is that this revolt is about the economic class and the ability of the people in France to pay their bills. In other places it is about race, migration, or nationalism. I think that it is likely that the protesters in France will get there desired outcome. At first the people were wearing green shirts and hanging green banners on their car to protest against the surge in the taxes, but now they are getting more violent and pushing over cars and other harmful things. I don't think the government is happy by what is happening and will make a compromise of some sort with the people. They might keep the price of gas at a steady low cost. If the people of France do not get the outcome that they hope for, I think that it can lead to some serious problems causing more things to get destroyed.

The yellow vest movement is different because, It has not followed the usual populist playbook. It is not tethered to a political party, let alone to a right-wing one. It is not focusing on race or migration, and those issues do not appear on the Yellow Vests’ list of complaints. It is not led by a single fire-breathing leader. Nationalism is not on the agenda.The uprising is instead mostly organic, spontaneous and self-determined. It is mostly about economic class. It is about the inability to pay the bills. I think that even if they do get to achieve their desired outcome that they will have to wait at least a couple of months or a year.

I think the protests may have gotten a little out of hand, many Paris civilians wore yellow vests and started burning cars, houses, etc. They also did other reckless things including vandalism and standing on top of tall structures. They were right to protest since they are allowed to speak out against whatever they want, but wrecking cars that cost thousands of dollars and vandalizing buildings is not a reasonable thing to do. I think that the French government will give the people what they want. They might take the president out of office or lower the taxes. Since Paris is such a big staple in France, the fact that it was wrecked had a bigger impact on the France community than it would have if they had done something to a small town. The French government should just lower the taxes and the people should help fix the damage and be less violent in their protests.

I believe these protests will soon come to a stopping point because the French achieved their goal, just want it lowered. I believe the protests will last a few months at the most, maybe even just a few weeks. The French government does not want these protests to last any longer, so they will probably lower the gas price.

The Yellow Vest movement is different from other current movements in Europe because it is about the social divide between the rich and the poor. This is different from other countries because those countries are worrying about immigration and nationalism. This is mainly because France is a country in which there is a huge gap between the rich and the poor and not much in the middle, while many other countries that were afflicted in WWll have a pretty good infrastructure. I think that the Yellow Vest movement will be listened to, but not exactly complied with - in other words I think there will be a compromise. I think the government will lower taxes if the Yellow Vests go home, but will have to increase the price of another thing such as national parks to make up for the lost money. I think this will happen because France is a country with a densely populated country in which everyone wants to be equal.