Nearly 300 detained as Paris braces for ‘yellow vest’ protest
Shops, museums, the Eiffel Tower and many metro stations closed as much of the city-centre goes on effective lockdown
Paris— French police detained nearly 300 people in Paris on Saturday ahead of fresh anti-government “yellow vest” protests which authorities fear could turn violent for a third weekend in a row. Clad in their luminous road safety jackets, dozens of demonstrators — who accuse President Emmanuel Macron of only looking out for the rich — gathered at dawn on the Champs-Elysees, the scene last Saturday of the worst rioting in Paris for decades. “ We had to come to Paris to be heard,” said protester Herve Benoit, arriving with three friends from the Dordogne in western France. He called on the government to boost people’s spending power and increase taxes on the wealthiest. By 7.40am GMT police had already detained 278 people. Some 8,000 police were deployed, carrying out checks on people arriving at train stations and at protest hotspots such as the Champs-Elysees and Bastille monument. A source close to the operation told AFP that at least 34 people were arrested for carrying masks, ham...
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