Lull in French Protests Offers Macron a Brief Respite
Lull in French Protests Offers Macron a Brief Respite
PARIS—A lull in the yellow-vest protest movement has given French President Emmanuel Macron some breathing room to try to repair his battered image and insulate his pro-business agenda from further demands.
New measures he announced a week ago to boost the purchasing power of working-class French appeared to lessen the impact on Saturday of a fifth consecutive weekend demonstration by antigovernment protesters known for wearing yellow reflective vests, or gilets jaunes.
France’s Interior Ministry said 66,000 protesters took part in demonstrations across the country, less than half of the crowds that gathered a week ago. Saturday’s protest was also largely peaceful compared with the rioting and looting that erupted during the two previous weekends.
Other factors contributed to the lower turnout, protesters said, suggesting Saturday was more of a temporary respite for Mr. Macron than a turning of the tide. A terrorist attack in the eastern French city Strasbourg on Tuesday discouraged people from hitting the streets, protesters and some analysts said, as did a weekend cold snap.
“There may be a truce for the holidays, but it doesn’t say much about what will happen next,” said Olivier Rouquan, a political analyst.
A graffito in Paris calls on President Emmanuel Macron to resign.
Photo:
Christophe Petit Tesson/Zuma Press
For now, the movement has deprived Mr. Macron of political capital as he seeks further overhauls, such as his plans to change unemployment benefits and pensions. His approval rating fell this month again to 23%.
The movement has also exposed fissures in his political coalition, as some lawmakers and ministers have called for Mr. Macron to reconsider his decision to abolish a wealth tax.
Mr. Macron has pledged to simplify France’s highly fragmented pension system. He also wants to extend unemployment payments—currently limited to people who are laid off—to business owners who go bankrupt and steadily employed people who are seeking a career change.
Still, given the country’s fractured political landscape, Mr. Macron doesn’t seem to face any serious political opponent. A poll of 1,125 people Ifop conducted Dec. 11-13 found Mr. Macron would easily make it to a runoff with far-right leader Marine Le Pen if elections were held now.
Voters for other candidates are expected to rally around Mr. Macron in such a runoff, because support for Ms. Le Pen among left-leaning voters is very low.
While many political leaders have expressed their support for the gilets jaunes, including Ms. Le Pen and far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, it hasn’t helped boost their popularity.
The yellow-vests remain a leaderless movement without any party affiliations, and its list of demands continues to grow even as Mr. Macron has made concessions.
Armel Deslandes, a 48-year-old teacher from a Paris suburb who took part in Saturday’s protests, called for the overhaul of fiscal and monetary policies.
“We want to change the country’s political and monetary system,” he said.
Jean Trebuchet, 37, wants Mr. Macron to break up banks. “We want a real division between retail and investment banks,” he said.
On Tuesday, a gunman killed five people at a famous Christmas market in Strasbourg. Political leaders urged demonstrators to stay home, warning that the attack could inspire others. Police killed the alleged attacker on Thursday after a standoff.
Still, tens of thousands of gilets jaunes joined Saturday’s protests.
In Paris, some 8,000 police officers partially locked down the city center, particularly near the Élysée Palace—the official presidential residence—blocking off some streets with vans and armored vehicles and closing major metro stations.
Tensions flared during the frigid day, particularly around the Champs-Élysées, which stretches from the Arc de Triomphe, with police launching tear gas.
“It isn’t normal to block us like this,” said Sandrine Guillaume, 47, who blamed the lower turnout on the heavy police presence. “We have the right to have our voices heard.”
In contrast to past weekends, some major stores and attractions including the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre museum remained open. Demonstrators holding signs like “presidential hunting season is open” mingled with Christmas shoppers browsing the windows of the Galeries Lafayette department store.
Many retailers that were closed the prior weekend were open on Saturday. Some hung “open” signs from their boarded-up windows and doors.
Roadblocks set up by protesters resulted in deadly accidents. On Friday, a driver died after slamming into a truck that had slowed to navigate a blockade at France’s border with Belgium, said a French official who had been briefed by Belgian authorities.
Write to Noemie Bisserbe at noemie.bisserbe@wsj.com
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