News Politics

The National Assembly of France has cleared a controversial law that bans the wearing of masks at protests. It is perceived as an attempt to reduce violent incidents during street protests. For the last few weeks, France has been witnessing violent street protests. In these protests, the masked protesters have participated in large numbers. It is observed that the majority of those engaged in the unlawful act of public property destruction during these protests have been those covered their faces with masks.

Meanwhile, in the assembly, the manner the French security officials have handled the violence protests organised by the yellow-vest has also invited serious criticism. Recently, a protester has lost one of his eyes when a French official’s attempt to disperse that protester went wrong.

The yellow-vest movement, which originally started as a protest against the issue of fuel price hike, has now transformed into a class struggle between the elite establishment and the rest which is totally detached from the establishment class.

By now, the establishment has understood that the movement cannot be handled in the manner it usually handles a public unrest.

The new developments indicate that the National Assembly is not sure how to handle this situation. A considerable number of lawmakers are neither willing to endorse the government to carry on freely with its cursing mission, not interested to encourage the protesters to destabilise the system.

Vignesh. S. G
Photo Courtesy: Google/ images are subject to copyright

News Politics

A ground of youngsters wearing red scarves has organised counter-protest in the capital city of France, Paris, against the yellow-vest movement, which has been disturbing the political hemisphere of France with persistent violent protests for last few days in the name of a sudden hike in the price of fuel.

The youngsters’ group has identified itself as the red scarves. In the protest organised against the yellow-vest movement, as many as ten thousand people have participated.

A social media page created by the group has already attracted tens of thousands of French youngsters.

The group, it seems, is not against the demands the yellow-vest movement has raised, but is against the means the movement has followed to achieve the demands. In short, the red scarves are against the yellow-vest’s widely recognised mean of violent protests.

Yellow-vest protesters confront red scarves protesters in the latest rally.

The yellow-vest is the most powerful political movement the country has witnessed in the recent history. The movement appeals for a change in the way the establishment looks at the issues that directly affect the common people of France such as the fuel price hike and rent hikes.

The movement’s excessive reliance to violent means is what that makes these genuine appeals less audible among the common people who always prefer peace over violence.

The red scarves’ counter-protest has come a few hours after the yellow-vest announced its plan to contest in the upcoming European Union parliament election.

If someone is worried about this latest political development in France in connection with the rise of yellow-vest movement, it is none other than Emanuel Macron, the man who was inducted to the top post by the anti-establishment faction with the hope of developing an new system free from the clutches of establishment.

Definitely, that timing evokes suspension in many minds. Do you think the red scarves’ counter-protest will reduce the prospects of the yellow-vest members in the upcoming EU parliament election?

Vignesh. S. G
Photo Courtesy: Google/ images are subject to copyright

News Politics

This year’s European Union parliament election is likely to witness a very unusual phenomenon: the emergence of an anti-elitist group yellow-vest (the group formed in France to protest, in short, against the fuel price hike, and, in large, against the elitist behaviour of the country’s ruling and its remoteness to the genuine grievances of the common people such as the price hike, rent hike and the labour issues).

In the European parliament election which is scheduled to take place on 23 May this year, the yellow-vest, which has jolted the streets of France and forced to the French president, Emanuel Macron, to drop his ambitious plan to increase the fuel tax, has decided to field as many as ten candidate, leaving behind the question whether they will expand the list of candidate in the run-up to the EU election to the imagination of the public.

In the list of ten, Ingrid Levavasseur is the most prominent one. She is a poor care worker, and is the representative of the larger population, which is totally unfamiliar with the elitist faction of the modern France.

Many evaluate the development as the rebirth of socialist populism in France. If the yellow-vest passes this crucial litmus test, the experiment will be repeated in the future elections also in France.

Vignesh. S. G
Photo Courtesy: Google/ images are subject to copyright