France fuel protest: One dead in "yellow vest" blockades.

One protester has died and dozens were injured as almost a quarter of a million people took to the streets of France angry, at rising fuel prices.

An excerpt:

The female protester who died was struck after a driver surrounded by demonstrators panicked and accelerated.

The "yellow vests", so-called after the high-visibility jackets they are required to carry in their cars, blocked motorways and roundabouts.

They accuse President Emmanuel Macron of abandoning "the little people".

Mr Macron has not so far commented on the protests, some of which have seen demonstrators call for him to resign.

But he admitted earlier in the week that he had not "really managed to reconcile the French people with their leaders".

Nonetheless, he accused his political opponents of hijacking the movement in order to block his reform programme.

What has happened so far?

Some 244,000 people took part in protests across France, the interior ministry said in its latest update.

It said 106 people were injured during the day, five seriously, with 52 people arrested.

Most of the protests have been taking place without incident although several of the injuries came when drivers tried to force their way through protesters.

Chantal Mazet, 63, was killed in the south-eastern Savoy region when a driver who was taking her daughter to hospital panicked at being blocked by about 50 demonstrators, who were striking the roof of her vehicle, and drove into them.

The driver has been taken into police custody in a state of shock.

In Paris protesters approaching the Élysée Palace, the president's official residence, were repelled with tear gas.

Why are drivers on the warpath?

The price of diesel, the most commonly used fuel in French cars, has risen by around 23% over the past 12 months to an average of €1.51 (£1.32; $1.71) per litre, its highest point since the early 2000s, AFP news agency reports.

World oil prices did rise before falling back again but the Macron government raised its hydrocarbon tax this year by 7.6 cents per litre on diesel and 3.9 cents on petrol, as part of a campaign for cleaner cars and fuel.

The decision to impose a further increase of 6.5 cents on diesel and 2.9 cents on petrol on 1 January 2019 was seen as the final straw.

Speaking on Wednesday, the president blamed world oil prices for three-quarters of the price rise. He also said more tax on fossil fuels was needed to fund renewable energy investments.

So even the French have a limit. Nah, too low, lets raise that gas tax a little bit more.

They're not wrong that consumption taxes disproportionately affect "the little people."

Man, I love when I am told USA should be more like Europe!

Me too. Wish we could take to the streets by the hundreds of thousands like the French people. They really know how to do a revolution.

And Europe tells USA is violent. France has it's extremist potlical parties and factions. But we don't hear about them on the news that often.

“We need reform, but not to the detriment of people’s pockets. We all bought diesel vehicles because we were told they were good, now they are punishing us because they say diesel is bad,” said Roger Ordonez, owner of a building company. “They are killing us off. We open our mouths they tax us, we shut them, they tax us. What is happening is totally unfair and we are totally fed up with this government.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/17/french-protester-killed-accident-anti-fuel-tax-blockade

Oh yeah? You dare to complain? Another tax for you.

Man, there would be nationwide celebrations if gas went down to $1.71....

That's per liter. It might be what you had in mind, but I just wanted to make sure you're comparing apples to apples.

So...."Macron government raised its hydrocarbon tax this year by 7.6 cents per litre on diesel and 3.9 cents on petrol, as part of a campaign for cleaner cars and fuel." Where is that money going?

Seems like a play: "now it is your turn".

You may want to read up on France and learn that they often demonstrate over the smallest insignificant thing. Especially the farmers are bad and they have often held the country hostage during tourist season.

So this is nothing new.

Sure, the French always think that it is 1968. That's not the point.

Point is the French are accustomed to high taxes but even they got a limit, environment or no environment.

Study after study indicates that to avoid many of the worst possible outcomes of climate changes humans should pretty much stop using oil just about...right now. Like, to go from whatever we use now, to 0, zilch, nada.

Point is people like helping the environment in the abstract but when it comes down to it, there is a lot of resistance for even a modest increase on gas taxes.

Point is that the gulf between what "has to be done" and what it is realistically achievable is big. Recent report from the US or not recent report from the US.

I heard a french dude said " Many french people are ready for a civil war." Something along those lines. (see latest France news) I don't know many wars over taxes but I think a civil war over taxes would be a bit much. I can think of the Revolutionary War but taxes was just part of it.

@Master_Live: Meanwhile, a new report indicates that climate change will decrease US GDP by as much as 10 percent.

There will be pain.

Stopping fossil fuels is a non starter.

It would be signing the death warrant for billions of people.

You'd be amazed how many green folks think that it's necessary for lots of people to die very quickly. Fortunately for them, it's probably going to happen.

I could be wrong but policies today look like more a gradual slow depopulation. Climate Change is going to be used to slowly strangle the richer economies of the world and transfer the wealth out of them.

The real problem that is that their are too many people on the planet to live like the typical American. We would devastate the planet quickly and put a huge strain on resources.

So by strangling wealthy economies slowly and by removing the middle class, you reduce resource consumption. The planet can handle billions of poor people who have little consumption outside of their basic survival needs. It can't handle 7.5 billion people living the American dream.

are the french extremist running around shooting people?

American civil war was over taxes.

@narutosup: they always tend to burn something in a protest. There is always some kind violence in their protests. America didn't really had that until recently.

The Boston Tea Party involved destruction of corporate property.

some black lives matter protesters were violent and they started burning things and looting

It's still going on.

This seems different to other protests...

Apparently some assault rifles have also been seized? https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1052915/paris-protest-france-news-emmanuel-macron-yellow-vest-protest-fuel-price