Macron’s Revival at Risk After Yellow Vest Violence Flares Again
- Government in crisis meetings after weekend of vandalism
- Macron’s popularity had rebounded after ‘national debate’
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French President Emmanuel Macron seemed to have overcome the worst of the Yellow Vest protests. One Saturday of renewed violence has put him back in crisis management mode.
Shops on Paris’s iconic Champs Elysées were torched and 200 people were arrested, prompting Prime Minister Edouard Philippe’s office to note the police actions had shown “inadequacies.” Recent protests had passed largely without incident, and a “national debate” that Macron started -- to allow grievances to be aired -- had helped revive his battered approval rating. That debate officially ended Friday.