Stop treating people like beggars or face hatred – Yellow Vests to Macron

Published time: 4 Jan, 2019 22:29

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File Photo: Yellow Vest protesters gather in Paris, December 15, 2018 © Reuters / Christian Hartmann

A group associated with Yellow Vests has written a fiery open letter to Emmanuel Macron, warning the French president against treating people like beggars, rejecting his nationwide debate, and demanding a major tax reduction.

The missive was posted in the Angry France group on Facebook, which unites almost 300,000 supporters of the Yellow Vest movement, and was also sent to the local media late on Thursday.

“Anger will turn into hatred if you continue, from your pedestal, you and your associates, to look at little people like beggars,” the protesters warned Macron.

The 3-page manifesto by Angry France also turned down Macron’s invitation to take part in the national debate, which the president ordered in response to the violent protests that gripped the country every week-end since November.

The debate was a “political trap” designed to drown the issue that “terrifies” the head of state so much, the letter read.

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The Yellow West activists also demanded a “significant reduction in all taxes on essential goods” for the French people paired with an equally significant reduction in pensions and salaries for the elected politicians and senior civil servants.

Protests in France appeared to be calming down recently, but Yellow Vest activists have been posting calls on social media for new rallies to take place on the first Saturday of 2019 in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Strasbourg and other cities.

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The Yellow West movement, which got its name after the high-visibility jackets worn by the demonstrators, kicked off in November over a proposed hike in fuel taxes.  As protests got increasingly violent and spanned more and more cities, the government dropped the planned increase.

Demonstrations continued due to the movement already morphing into wider discontent with Macron’s pro-business agenda, decline in living standards and growing inequality.