French President Macron’s controversial gas and utility tax increase plans dragged the country into chaos.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe expressed that the government understood the anger that has gripped portions of the country and planned to launch a nationwide discussion over the next four months to find ways to address both global climate change and the more fundamental economic issues that have divided the nation.
“No tax is worth putting the unity of the country in danger,” Philippe said. “We hope these measures will restore calm in the country. “
STUDENTS SAY ‘NO’
But the protests are still continuing. Riot police raided Tolbiac university in Paris to evict students who staged a three-week sit-in over new education policies, the latest flashpoint in protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s reforms.
Around 100 officers took part in the dawn raid on the 22-storey tower block dominating the Tolbiac campus, one of several French faculties occupied in an echo of the momentous student-led protests of May 1968.
The government said it could face down all the strikes and that the student demonstrators were in the minority. The prime minister, Édouard Philippe, said he was “extremely vigilant” over the student sit-ins, blaming the far-left for stoking them and criticizing what he called anti-police graffiti on faculty walls. He said end-of-year exams would not be cancelled and all students would be expected to take them. He said he condemned “all violence” from any side.