Mr. Griveaux, the government’s most familiar face on television, has also been the most aggressive in adopting Mr. Macron’s harsh new line against the protest movement. In a New Year’s address, Mr. Macron vowed to restore order “without compromise.”
On Friday, Mr. Griveaux declared that the Yellow Vest movement had become “the province of agitators who want upheaval, and, at bottom, to overthrow the government.” A watchword of the protest movement has been a demand that Mr. Macron resign.
A Yellow Vest leader, Eric Drouet, was arrested this past week on charges of organizing an undeclared demonstration, setting off concerns of a backlash that would re-energize the demonstrations.
The weeks of unrest have pressured Mr. Macron to act. In mid-December, he scrapped a contentious fuel tax increase and promised extra cash for minimum wage earners and tax cuts for pensioners.
Megan Specia contributed reporting from New York.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/05/world/europe/yellow-vests-protests-france-paris.html
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