France's yellow sweaters failed to mobilize large numbers of demonstrators who left Saturday in few numbers in Paris and other cities, amid protests over taxes and high living costs.
After mass demonstrations involving tens of thousands during the past five weeks and widespread violence and vandalism in Paris, only a few hundred of the calls for today's demonstration on President Emmanuel Macaron's economic and social policies were answered, while police deployed much less In the past weeks.
Police said only 800 people demonstrated today in the capital against 4,000 last Saturday. Dozens of protesters gathered near the presidential palace of Versailles, prompting the police to disperse them with gas bombs. The same scene is repeated in a few other locations in Paris and other cities such as Nantes South of France.
According to Al-Jazeera correspondent in Paris that police arrested 66 demonstrators of yellow jackets, including one of their spokesmen. The correspondent said that the mobilization calls by the leaders of the "yellow jackets" to implement what they called Chapter VI of the protests, did not receive a wide response.
The mobilization failed in the sixth week of the yellow jackets, including the start of Christmas and the new administrative year. Some activists called for a "truce" during Christmas.
However, the day's protests have caused some disruption in the transit traffic along France's borders with Spain and Belgium.
French authorities said a driver died in the southern French city of Barbigny yesterday when her car collided with a truck in a yard sealed by yellow jackets, raising the death toll from anti-government protests in France to 10.
The protests began more than a month after the French government announced its intention to impose a tax on fuel prices. Faced with violent demonstrations, the Macaron government had to suspend the fuel tax and raised the minimum wage.
A day before today's demonstrations, the French Senate approved emergency economic and social measures in the context of meeting the demands of the Yellow Jackets movement.