Displaying items by tag: France

In Florian Dou’s shopping cart there was a packet of sausages and not much else. He had spent all his salary ten days before the end of the month. To survive when the money runs out before the next payday is a monthly challenge for him and many others in provincial French towns. Mr Dou was angry, and used what money he had left to drive 250 miles to join fiery protests in Paris, where police moved in with teargas, water cannon and rubber bullets against those protesting against fuel tax and price rises. Dou vowed the protesters are not going anywhere: see https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/02/world/europe/france-yellow-vest-protests.html The gilets jaunes (‘yellow vests’) protests have come to embody widespread disillusionment with President Macron and are gaining intensity. Macron has now abandoned fuel tax increases. Some protesters said his surrender came too late, and does nothing to quell the mounting anger at a government they consider out of touch with the problems of ordinary people.

The European Intervention Initiative (EII), a military coalition ready to react to crises near the continent's borders, was launched in Paris on 7 November amid calls by French president Emmanuel Macron for a ‘real European army’. The French-led initiative would not conflict with the almost 70-year-old US-dominated NATO alliance, proponents say, but reflects concerns about a more isolationist USA under President Trump. The EII took official shape in Paris after months of negotiations with Germany, which France wants at the centre of the force. It will see members collaborate on planning, the analysis of new military and humanitarian crises, and eventual military responses to those crises. ‘In an environment where threats and upheavals nature are multiplying, the EII must send the message that Europe is ready and capable’, a French defence ministry official said.

France has taken the hardest line of the member states in recent weeks, including its insistence that an outline of the future relationship should be detailed. Other states suggested it should be allowed to be vague in order to ease the passage to a deal, after the EU rejected key planks of it on customs and the single market. Emmanuel Macron has urged his EU counterparts to stand firm against Theresa May in Brexit negotiations after the PM urged the bloc to give ground in talks. The French president said that EU unity must take precedence over any other considerations. Other leaders took a softer line. Xavier Bettel of Luxembourg said ‘compromise from both sides, not from one side’ was necessary and Irish PM Leo Varadkar told reporters that Mrs May was ‘working hard’ on the issue of Northern Ireland, and that she appeared to be ‘very sincere’.

Mamoudou, a Malian migrant living in Paris, caught the world’s attention when he bravely saved a child who was dangling over the edge of a balcony of a high-rise apartment complex. He has been nicknamed Spider-Man for the incredible way he scaled four floors of the building and lifted the child to safety. When asked why he undertook such a dangerous climb, he simply replied, ‘I didn’t think about it, I climbed up and God helped me.’ He added: ‘I like children. I would have hated to see him getting hurt in front of me. I ran and looked for solutions to save him, and thank God I scaled the front of the building to the balcony.’ Mamoudou has been awarded French citizenship. The child’s father is under investigation for neglect, and the child has been placed in care.

Security at Calais is tight and Caen is becoming the point for illegal migrants to reach the UK. On 30 May the Road Haulage Association spoke of truckers running a gauntlet of violence and intimidation by migrants trying to cross into Britain. ‘We have evidence of real and present threats to lorry drivers’ lives. Lorries are forced to stop by makeshift roadblocks where migrant gangs attempt to get on board - frequently with threats of violence. There have been threats of rape towards female drivers. There is no question that the risk to drivers is significant and the situation is deteriorating.’ The RHA said that the French authorities need to do more to ensure that hauliers can operate safely. Drivers have the right to complete their journeys in safety and though the police and security forces are doing their best, they are heavily outnumbered. The RHA is calling for the deployment of the French military, who have the resources necessary to bring the situation under control.

Two days before President Putin’s fourth inauguration, over a thousand people were detained after protests against his extended rule turned violent. Riot police barricaded protesters who then ran into adjoining streets, chanting, ‘Putin is a thief!’ and ‘He’s not my Tsar’. After lighting smoke bombs and throwing bricks, many were beaten bloody with batons in scenes reminiscent of 2012’s opposition movement. Many protesters held yellow duck symbols of ‘anti-corruption’. Pray for honest politics. See Over 2,500 Greeks protested against 2016’s EU/Turkey deal that left thousands of asylum-seekers stranded on Lesbos. When prime minister Alexis Tsipras arrived at Lesbos, protesters used loudspeakers to promote dissent and violence, and riot police fired teargas. See France’s May Day turned nasty when 1000+ ‘Black Bloc’ anarchists burnt cars and vandalised businesses, chanted anti-fascist slogans, threw firecrackers, and built barricades against police water cannons.

France’s unions have started three months of industrial action. On two days in five trains will not run, and workers will down tools for a total of 36 days. 77% of train drivers are striking over government proposals to reduce the ‘jobs for life and early retirement’ status. Macron insists reforms are essential to stem rising debt and prepare the way for competition starting next year. He is facing his toughest test to date. It is unclear how this ‘war of attrition’ will pan out, as Air France, dustmen, and energy workers intend to join the battle.. If rail reform passes, it paves the way for subsequent overhauls of the education system and pensions. University students have already joined the protests against Macron's proposals. Attempted reforms have been the undoing of past French presidents.

Lt-Col Arnaud Beltrame, a practising Catholic, was shot and stabbed after he traded places with one of the captives following a shooting spree in southern France. His brother Cedric said his actions were ‘beyond the call of duty’. France's gendarmerie honoured its fallen comrade, saying Col Beltrame ‘gave his life for the freedom of the hostages’. His sacrifice was compared with that of St Maximilian Kolbe, who in 1941 volunteered to take the place of a fellow prisoner condemned to death at Auschwitz. Beltrame and his fiancée, Marielle, were shortly to marry.

Silent synagogues are witnesses to the fall of a fundamental branch of European civilisation as they are converted into museums, swimming pools, shopping centres, police stations, and mosques. The stars of David and the kipás are vanishing as Europe's Jews feel unsafe when carrying or wearing symbols of their faith. Recently two men attacked an 8-year-old Jewish boy wearing a yarmulke in a Sarcelles street. It is not an isolated incident, but the ‘new normal’ for French Jews. European elites are preaching cultural relativism and multiculturalism; which is now resulting in attacks on Jews and deChristianisation as historic churches are being demolished. The most recent was flattened in Germany to make room for a coal mine. Religious symbols are an integral part of civilisation. Religion plays a key role in society and in its cohesion. When the old symbols disappear, the new ones - with their own identities - take their place. Is religion being replaced with multiculturalism? See also article 3 in the UK section.

A 15-year-old girl from a Jewish school had her face slashed in an anti-Semitic attack, just days after two kosher shops were torched. The shops had been painted with swastikas in December. Many believe France is seeing a return of anti-Semitic currents. Anti-Semitic speech is heard more and more, and warning bells are ringing all over Europe. Simply to admit the problem is not enough; it is time to act and identify the sources of anti-Semitism in France. Hostile opinions towards Jews are more prevalent among the extreme right, the radical left, and the Muslim community - itself the object of considerable animosity in France.