High school students and ambulance drivers join ‘Yellow Vest’ protests in France
By Alex Lantier
4 December 2018
With a fourth consecutive Saturday of mass demonstrations against French President Emmanuel Macron’s regressive taxes planned this weekend, tens of thousands of high school students throughout France have staged demonstrations at their school buildings.
Students staged demonstrations at 200 schools across the country on Monday, up from 50 on Friday. They expressed their solidarity with the ‘Yellow Vest’ protesters opposing president Emmanuel Macron, their opposition to Macron’s pro-corporate restructuring of university admissions, his mass layoffs of teachers, and his plans to reimpose the military draft.
The same day, dozens of ambulance drivers protesting changes to their working conditions blocked a bridge leading to the National Assembly. Statements are circulating on Facebook indicating that petrol refinery workers will strike today in support of the protests.
Protesters wearing yellow vests have staged demonstrations not only in France, but in Belgium and Bulgaria, where they have set up blockades of major roads, as well as the Netherlands. Opposition to Macron, austerity and the high cost of living is intensifying across Europe.
The anger of workers in France and all of Europe, growing for years, is developing in opposition to inequality, the politics of militarism and austerity of Macron and the European Union, and against the brutality of the police forces dispatched against the protesters.
The editorial of Le Monde by Jérôme Fenoglio insisted that alleged attacks by “Yellow Vests” against police “must be condemned without reservation” and denounced the “outpouring of rage and hate which is spilling out, for hours, in the posh areas of the capital.” He demanded that the unions take control of the movement, declaring they “would be crucial for channeling a movement of this sort.”
In fact, certain sections of the French trade unions are calling for the violent repression of the “Yellow Vests.” This is the case for the Police-Alliance, closely tied to the neo-fascists, which denounced the “insurrectional” protests. The union called for “reinforcement from the army” to suppress the demonstrations.
Complete article here. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/12/04/fran-d04.html
