mel 🫧

🇫🇷 Journalist asks 8-year-old Marcel: “Why are you protesting today?” Marcel: “Well, I think Macron is an asshole.” Journalist: “Merci, Marcel.” Protesters took to the streets across France for a fourth straight Saturday, with student unions saying about 250,000 people joined. Police fired tear gas in Paris, where fires burned and officers detained protesters. The government deployed 70,000 police and gendarmes, and Paris police banned a Yellow Vest rally at Place de la Concorde and refused many other protest permits. Police arrested two Yellow Vest leaders, Benjamin Ball and spokesperson Azelma Sigaux, near the National Assembly, according to AFP. The movement began in late September, when high school and university students protested overcrowded classrooms and unfilled teaching posts. It has grown into a broader revolt, joined by unions and the Yellow Vests, against the rising cost of living and the government's plan for €61 billion in spending cuts. About 6,800 people, most of them minors, have been arrested since it began.