Headed by France and Germany… Europeans protest against their economic situation and demands to lift sanctions on Russia
France and Germany witnessed a group of protest demonstrations due to the deteriorating economic situation, amid calls for lifting the sanctions imposed on Russia.
In the French capital, Paris, a group of protests took place on Saturday, the most important of which is the demonstrations of the Patriot movement, which calls for the overthrow of the government and demands the lifting of sanctions against Russia to improve the economic situation, and calls for France’s exit from NATO and the European Union.
Also, the “yellow vests” movement organized protests in 3 different points in Paris, due to the difficult living conditions.
Local French website, Acto Paris, stated, on Saturday, that “after the arrest and interrogation of 100 people during last Saturday’s demonstrations, the “yellow vests” decided to take to the streets of the French capital, Paris, again, to protest against the high cost of living, and to demand tax social justice.
The website stated that “the first demonstration was launched from the Fagram metro station, in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, in cooperation with the “Angry Citizens” movement, to defend social gains in light of President Emmanuel Macron’s economic and political orientations, as well as to demand social, tax and climate justice,” according to the website. Describe some of the protesters.
At the same time, a demonstration took place in Catalonia Square, in the 14th arrondissement, for “the denunciation of the state’s foreign policy towards the war in Ukraine, and their refusal to put the French people in the midst of war,” according to the site.
A third demonstration, in which “True Freedom”, “Angry Citizens” and the Yellow Vests participated, took place from the Palais Royal in the first district, and demanded the removal of President Macron.
And last Saturday, the Paris police announced the interrogation of 103 people from the “yellow vest” movement participating in rallies in the streets of Paris, explaining that the arrested people “organized a protest without a permit, after calls for demonstrations launched by the yellow vests on social media, to denounce the increasing inflation”.
The police charged 93 protesters with “participation in a gathering with the aim of committing acts of violence and destruction”, while seven others were charged with “rebellion and perpetration of violence against security forces”.
The wave of yellow vest protests began in France on November 17, 2018, in reaction to the government’s decision to raise the tax on fuel prices, and then expanded the circle of demands to include living conditions in general.
At the beginning, the wave of protests received wide popular support, before some demonstrations took a violent character and led to riots and vandalism on the Champs-Elysees.
The demonstrations continued for more than 50 weeks continuously every Saturday, and stopped permanently with the start of the Coronavirus crisis.
The yellow vest crisis constituted one of the biggest challenges that President Macron faced after taking office, forcing him to take additional economic measures to “meet some of the demonstrators’ demands”, in addition to launching the “Great National Debate” with the aim of “closer to the people and their demands”.
This coincides with scheduled protests in Germany about the economic situation, high prices and the deterioration of the purchasing power of citizens.
This is due to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, and the sanctions imposed by the West on Moscow due to the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, which greatly affected the living life of Europeans.
Earlier, the German government announced an economic support package to help citizens and companies cope with rising prices and inflation, worth 65 billion euros.
