2019 : Revolution ?

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Almost the entire UK is blanketed in snow

Except where I live

I have rain

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I have spent the entire day trying to thaw my home with central heating AND electric fires

No snow but MINUS 14 OVERNIGHT

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Here now it is rainy and not cold at all. 11ºc next week.

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Here now it is rainy and not cold at all. 11ºc next week.

They forecast April showers starting Monday

Time to start spring cleaning

[Anthea]

French 'yellow vests' march through
Paris denouncing police violence

Several thousand “yellow vest” protesters marched through Paris and other French cities on Saturday on the 12th weekend of action against the government, despite opinion polls pointing to a recovery in President Emmanuel Macron’s popularity

The protests - named after the fluorescent jackets French motorists are required to carry in their cars - began in mid-November over plans to raise fuel taxes before developing into a broader revolt against the government that mobilized tens of thousands of demonstrators nationwide each Saturday.

The government warned on Friday police would not hesitate to use flash balls in case of violence by demonstrators after it was authorized by France’s highest administrative court.

Protesters in Paris on Saturday paid homage to those injured in the past months, denouncing the use of flash ball riot control guns banned in much of Europe.

Between 10,000 and 13,800 protested in the capital according to police and independent media estimates. Riot police used tear gas to disperse some protesters who set bins and a scooter alight, although the situation remained relatively calm compared to previous weekends. Thousands also took to the streets in cities, including Tours, Valence, Marseille and Bordeaux.

About 1,000 police officers have been injured along with 1,700 demonstrators since the start of the protests, according to official figures.

https://youtu.be/Oy7Gj4JaCNY

“It’s true that this intermediate weapon can hurt, but faced with rioters, the police need it to defend themselves against those who attack them,” said Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.

Opinion polls show a recovery in Macron’s battered popularity rating after he launched consultations, including town hall debates, to try to quell social unrest.

A Harris Interactive poll of 1,000 people on Friday showed Macron gaining 4 percentage points since December taking him to a 35 percent approval rating.

As in previous weeks, protesters on Saturday carried French flags and held signs attacking Macron as out of touch or calling for referendums tabled by citizens.

Protesters injured in previous weeks of violence were put at the front of the protests with some wearing eye patches with a target sign on them.

The Interior Ministry said 80,000 security officials had been mobilized, including 5,000 in Paris.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vene ... SKCN1PR0M1

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Macron l'Éborgneur, or le Président Flashball.

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Gilets Jaunes face big decision as Macron fights back

After almost three months of protests, France's yellow-vest movement, which rejected any formal leadership or political affiliation, has split over the question of whether to enter electoral politics.

This citizens' movement has already forced President Emmanuel Macron's first policy climb-down. So far, five separate groups have emerged with plans to contest upcoming elections - either the European parliamentary elections in May, or the French local elections next year.

One recent poll suggested a single list could garner 13% of French votes for the European elections - mainly drawing voters away from the far-right and far-left parties of Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

Why fight elections?

"We know we can't stay on the roundabouts forever," said Come Dunis, a candidate with one of the newly formed parties, the Citizens Initiative Rally.

"We can't demonstrate every Saturday. We have to enter the electoral system."

Mr Dunis is second on the party's list for the European elections. The transformation from protest movement to political party, he says, is about "turning the page on a political elite that has despised us for 40 years."

"We'll show that unemployed people and forklift truck operators can sit alongside technocrats and bureaucrats in Brussels," he told me.

The gilets jaunes have so far drawn strength from their diversity and breadth of appeal.

Without recognised national leaders, a cohesive set of demands, or even an agreed political outlook, it was a difficult movement for France's government to negotiate with – and Mr Macron ended up offering more concessions than many had initially expected.

So why change the formula?

The yellow vests were forced to organise or die, according to Olivier Costa, research director with France's National Centre for Scientific Research.

"They were cornered," he told me.

"Participation [in the protests] was declining, and the government will not agree to their main requests for new elections or more referenda, so they found themselves continuing to protest – without knowing what for, or where they're heading."

But Mr Costa believes the same constraints on their influence on the streets will hamper them in electoral politics.

"No gilets jaunes leaders have the knowledge, qualities or resources to become a strong [political] leader," he said. "They're not good at talking or writing, they're not rich like Trump, they don't have the network or the connections."

They are discovering that outside the system it is difficult to have much political impact in France, he believes.

Will Macron be the ultimate winner?

The diversity of the movement has caused problems in organising themselves into a single political bloc. And few of the groups have a coherent list of policies.

But even if yellow-vest candidates won just 7-8% of the vote in the European elections, Olivier Costa argues the real loser would be the far right, for whom it would be a "disaster".

"The main winner would obviously be President Macron," he says.

"His big task is to be ahead of the far right in those elections – and with the gilets jaunes running, he will be."

The risk of inadvertently helping President Macron is one reason why some gilets jaunes are boycotting plans to enter traditional politics. Others believe it would also weaken the movement itself.

"These lists will only serve the executive's power," said Benjamin Cauchy, one of the founders of the movement who is based in Toulouse.

"Whereas on the roundabouts, there are people from the left, extreme left, right, extreme right - all united together in a common desire to have more fiscal and social justice - they won't be able to agree on issues like migration.

"If they want to make a list they must choose a political side, and this will lead to a division of the gilets jaunes."

Another of the gilets jaunes who has come to national prominence, Jason Herbert, says he has refused two requests to join the new party lists.

He believes the protesters do not want to commit to politics and their goal is instead to persuade France's existing representatives to take certain political decisions.

How Macron has responded

President Macron has tried to stem the sense of disgruntlement in the country with what he's calling a "grand debate" - a series of local meetings across France to discuss political, economic and social reforms.

His poll ratings are up and he has ruled out the one reform that unites many gilets jaunes: making it easier for citizens to trigger referendums on key issues.

But he has suggested that he may "ask our citizens if they agree" to a few constitutional changes selected by the government, such as reducing the number of MPs in the French parliament, or limiting the number of terms they can serve.

"There's a risk the debate will create frustrations," said Said Ahamada, an MP for Mr Macron's party, LREM, in Marseille.

"We weren't able to answer the expectations of the French people," he admits. "And 18 months after the elections, they are impatient. French society believes less and less in its political leaders."

So does that mean that French leaders should be fearful of movements like the gilets jaunes, who seek to change the country from outside its established political system?

Olivier Costa says not.

"France is an old democracy and people are critical of its institutions," he told me. "But this is not the Arab Spring and this is not a dictatorship."

"There were polls at the beginning of this movement saying that 80% of French people thought it was positive and interesting. That doesn't mean 80% of French people are ready for a gilet jaune to be the next president."

Link to Article - Photos:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-47148478

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This so called yellow vest party is a joke. A puppet supported by the government. The genuine gilets jaunes are still in the streets.

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This so called yellow vest party is a joke. A puppet supported by the government. The genuine gilets jaunes are still in the streets.

It is difficult for us in UK to know exactly what is happening.

I thought it a bit odd that the gilets jaunes, who were a cross section of the community, would decide to join up with a left wing group and form a political party

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Yellow vest protesters in violent clashes
between police and demonstrators in Paris

A yellow vest protester has suffered a horrific hand injury in Paris as violent demonstrations continue for the 13th consecutive weekend across France.

Chaos broke out near the Champs-Elysees and the National Assembly on Saturday, with the demonstrators set to continue weaving through the streets before ending at the Eiffel Tower.

A protester needed medical attention amid the furore after appearing to have suffered a serious hand injury, with gruesome images showing their horrific injury.

The injury has been linked to some form of projectile thrown during the commotion.

Paramedics huddled around the injured protester near the gates of the National Assembly as they provided emergency treatment and some served as a barrier to stop crowds from getting too close.

Police have since said the injured protester lost four fingers as authorities swooped in to stop protesters from breaching the parliament's exterior.

However, they could not confirm French media reports that the demonstrator's hand was blown up by a grenade used to disperse unruly crowds.

Fire department spokesman Gildas Lecoeur said the injured man had a bloodied hand and was taken to a hospital.

He could not confirm the man's current condition.

Thousands of protesters have gathered in the capital and across France.

Police used batons and fired tear gas in Paris to disperse demonstrators.

Some of those involved threw debris at riot police hunkered down in front of the National Assembly.

French police say 31 demonstrators had been arrested as scuffles broke out between yellow vest protesters and police near the Champs-Elysees Avenue and the National Assembly.

A car, motorbikes and multiple trash bins were set ablaze.

French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner took to Twitter to express his "disgust" as French yellow vest protesters set alight an anti-terror military car at a protest in Paris.

Such vehicles have been a common sight in Paris since the deadly attacks by extremists in 2015.

Paris demonstrators, who ended the 13th consecutive weekend of protest at the Eiffel Tower, set the vehicle ablaze in front of the famed monument.

Castaner said: "Every day the military ... protects our compatriots from the risk of terrorism. These attacks are intolerable."

Link to LOTS of photos:
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/y ... 62201.html

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France on brink of CIVIL WAR as Yellow Vest
leader threatens to BRING DOWN government

The leader of the Yellow Vest movement that has wreaked havoc across Europe with violent protests that triggered the collapse of the French economy has declared he has “militiamen ready to bring down the government” following a shock meeting with the Italian coalition

Cristophe Chalencon, one of the leaders of the Yellow Vest revolution, said France is “on the brink of cvil war” before he vowed to fight French President Emmanuel Macron over Paris austerity.

In a gathering in Italy with anti-establishment party 5-Star Movement leader Luigi Di Maio and his right-hand man Alessandro Di Battista, the Frenchman raged: “We have people, militiamen, ready to intervene because they also want to bring down the government.

Today everything is calm, but we are on the brink of a civil war. “I know that I risk a lot. I can get shot in the head at any moment. But I don’t care. I defend my convictions. “Because if I got shot in the head, the people - Macron would end up on the guillotine.

“We have reached such a level of confrontation today that Macron would also fall if I fall. The people would break into the Elysée and destroy everything, him, his wife and all the group.”

When pressed for more details on his military, Mr Chalencon added: “Yes, militiamen. People who have withdrawn from the army and who are against the government.

“Of course I know. It's disturbing. It is disturbing but you do not realise it. Macron is afraid. This is why I tell you that he is afraid.”

Like France, tensions in Italy have also hit boiling point.

Though unlike Yellow Vest protesters taking aim at their leader, Mr Macron, over his 23 percent fuel hike and rising living costs, in Italy the coalition government made up of Mr Di Maio and League leader Matteo Salvini are embroiled in a bitter battle with their superiors, the EU.

Recently, Italy’s shrinking financial economy has sparked fears the troubled nation will face an early election, which will plunge the entire Eurozone into more chaos.

This follows news the French economy has been left in tatters after Mr Macron caved in to demands from Yellow Vest demonstrators, costing billions of euros.

Meanwhile, Germany - Europe’s largest economy - announced it narrowly avoided a recession following a second consecutive quarter of negative growth. DekaBank economist Andreas Scheuerle told Sky News Germany “got away with a black eye” instead.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/10 ... igi-di-mai

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Chalançon is not THE leader of Yellow Vest. He just represents a small faction among a vast movement. And no one follows him blindly.He is just a ridiculous Guy Fawkes.

Les Gilets jaunes are not a far-right or left-right movement. They are not a political movement. They are the people, the lower classes, the poor, the low middle-class and a part of the middle-class which supports them.

You cannot give a political label to an entire population. This is not a political coup. This is a social revolt.

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Just as you say - it is the entire population - all ages and political and cultural groups protesting against the government

Chalançon wants his 15 minutes of fame (as we say) a bandwagon jumper

Guy Fawkes was the most honest person to enter parliament

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Spring is here : 18ºc.

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http://echosetmerveilles.fr

https://www.imaginales.fr

2 festivals of fantasy.

I will be there, to present my novel.

I change a world full of Kurds with an Elves and Trolls' Kingdom