Alarm over economic crisis of France amidst its biggest protest

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Just when you think you are living beyond your means in Kenya, you realise that one of the richest countries has its citizens basically sleeping on the streets to demonstrate the high cost of life.Whats more unimaginable is the financial damage that has hit them in the daring move.

The “yellow vest” protests have been “a catastrophe” for the French economy, the finance minister says.

France has seen four consecutive weekends of demonstrations against fuel tax rises, high living costs, and other issues.

About 125,000 protesters took to the streets on Saturday, with more than 1,700 people arrested.

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Several tourist sites, including the Eiffel Tower and Louvre Museum, are closed this weekend.

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire called the situation “a crisis” for both society and democracy.

“It’s a catastrophe for commerce, it’s a catastrophe for our economy,” he said during a visit to shops in Paris that had been damaged during the protests.

The capital was particularly badly hit, with windows smashed, cars burned, and shops looted, as 10,000 people took part in demonstrations.

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“There was much more damage yesterday than a week ago” because Saturday’s protests were more dispersed, deputy mayor Emmanuel Gregoire told local radio.

However, he added that there had been fewer injuries compared with last week

Le Parisien newspaper reported that in the capital about 50 vehicles had been burnt and dozens of businesses vandalised, with some of them looted.

On Friday, the French retail federation told Reuters news agency that retailers had lost about 1bn euros ($1.1bn; £900m) since the protests first began on 17 November.

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Mr Le Maire said last week, before the most recent protests, that the restaurant trade had declined by between 20% and 50%.

Meanwhile, the authorities in Paris say that riots have caused millions of pounds of damage.

There are concerns that the protests could lead to a drop in tourism. Paris was visited by a record number of tourists in 2017-more than 40 million the Paris Tourism Office said last month.

The movement began as a protest against a rise in duties on diesel, which is widely used by French motorists and has long been less heavily taxed than other types of fuel.

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Diesel prices have risen by about 23% over the past 12 months – and Mr Macron’s decision to impose a tax increase of 6.5 cents on diesel and 2.9 cents on petrol from 1 January enraged protesters.

Mr Macron had blamed world oil prices for three-quarters of the price rise, but said higher taxes on fossil fuels were needed to fund renewable energy investments.

Do you think the yellow vest war will end successfully?

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