Violence in France: Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said a bus was set on fire in the western city of Rennes and that damage to a power line blocked trains on a line in the southwest. He alleged that protesters were attempting to create โa climate of insurrection.โ
A massive violence broke out in France as protesters blocked roads, set blazes and were met with volleys of police tear gas Wednesday, seeking to heap pressure on President Emmanuel Macron by attempting to give his new prime minister a baptism of fire.
Nearly 200 protesters have been arrested
In the wake of these developments, the interior minister of France said that nearly 200 protesters have been arrested in the first hours of the planned day of nationwide protests.
Although falling short of its self-declared intention to โBlock Everything,โ the protest movement that started online and gathered steam over the summer caused widespread hot spots of disruption, defying an exceptional deployment of 80,000 police who broke up barricades and swiftly made arrests.
Violent protest in France: Bus was set on fire in Rennes
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said a bus was set on fire in the western city of Rennes and that damage to a power line blocked trains on a line in the southwest. He alleged that protesters were attempting to create โa climate of insurrection.โ
Sรฉbastien Lecornu appointed as France’s new PM
Earlier in the day, Macron appointed Defence Minister Sรฉbastien Lecornu as France’s new prime minister and tasked him with immediately trying to get the country’s fractious political parties to agree on a budget for one of the world’s biggest economies.
Lecornu, 39, was the youngest defence minister in French history and architect of a major military buildup through 2030, spurred by Russia’s war in Ukraine. A long-time Macron loyalist, Lecornu is now France’s fourth prime minister in barely a year.
A former conservative who joined Macron’s centrist movement in 2017, Lecornu has held posts in local governments, overseas territories and during Macron’s yellow vest โgreat debate,โ when he helped manage mass anger with dialogue. He also offered talks on autonomy during unrest in Guadeloupe in 2021.
Legislators toppled Lecornu’s predecessor Francois Bayrou and his government in a confidence vote on Monday, a new crisis for Europe’s second-largest economy.
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