Yellow Vest protesters take to streets of Paris for twelfth week in march against police violence

The peaceful protest marched against police violence toward protesters
AFP/Getty Images
Megan White2 February 2019

Yellow Vest activists have once again taken to the streets of Paris in protest over French government policies which they say favour the rich.

Thousands took part in the latest march which saw scenes of further violence with police firing tear gas at protesters.

It is the twelfth consecutive Saturday that the movement has marched in Paris. The marches originally started as a protest about planned fuel hikes, but transformed into broad protest at President Emmanuel Macron's government.

This weekend's protest, during which tear gas canisters were thrown and fires started in the Place de la Republique, was intended to highlight the number of protesters who have been injured – around 2,000.

A protester with a fake eye injury wears a yellow vest calling for a stop to the use of LBDs
AFP/Getty Images

Separately, 10 people have died in traffic accidents related to Yellow Vest actions.

The group denounced the police’s use of the LBD – Defense Ball Launchers – which fire rubber bullets the size of golf balls and have been used 9,200 times since the protests began.

Their use has allegedly caused broken limbs and permanently damaged protesters’ eyes.

Plain clothes policemen react during clashes with protesters at Place de la Republique
AFP/Getty Images

Prominent activist Jerome Rodrigues, who claims to have been hit in the eye by an LBD missile, led the march, while many donned fake facial injuries and eye patches to confront officers.

Franck Dideron, a 20-year-old protester, said he was protesting peacefully, speaking on the phone to his mother, when his eye was injured by a rubber bullet fired by police during a Dec. 1 protest near the Arc de Triomphe monument in Paris.

He said: "The policeman shot me voluntarily. And I was just turning around - how was that violent behavior? How was I dangerous for him?

Fires were lit during clashes on the twelfth consecutive Saturday of protesting
AP

"Today, I would like to see this policeman come and stand in front of me, look me in the eye and tell me why he shot me."

Several competing groups of yellow vests have said they will field candidates for the European Parliament election in May, while other figures insist the movement must remain non-political.

France's Council of State ruled on Friday that security forces have the right to continue using LBDs.

French yellow vest protests on January 26 - in pictures

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They noted the frequency of violence and property destruction at protests, and concluded that authorities' use of the devices doesn't constitute a "grave attack" on the freedom to demonstrate or the right not to be exposed to inhuman or degrading treatment.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner tweeted Friday that "if the law was respected, there would be no injured."

A bill is under debate in the French parliament to strengthen measures against troublemakers who use protests to attack police.

Rights groups and opposition lawmakers, however, say it goes too far in restricting the right to protest.

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