Protests against high fuel prices in France have killed a woman. A car driver was in the face of a roadblock in panic and have run over a demonstrator, France's Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said in a live televised video switch with the relevant prefect. The accident occurred in Pont-de-Beauvoisin, north of Grenoble.
According to the Prefect, some of the approximately 40 road blockade participants had drummed on the woman's car, which then panicked and gasped. At various places in France, there were already accidents with injured people in the morning as part of the protests.
The movement "Gilets Jaunes" (warning vests) has called for Saturday across France to blockades of traffic axes, roundabouts and tollbooths. Protesters gathered around 7:00 am east of Paris near the city highway, police said. Even taxi drivers came together at dawn in Paris.
Nationwide, the police expect about 1500 actions, of which, however, only a good hundred have been officially registered. The protest is directed against further planned by the government tax increases on gasoline and diesel. One liter of premium gasoline costs about two euros in France. The protests, on the other hand, had been organized mainly through social networks.
At a snail's pace over the Parisian city highway
According to police, protests will take place nationwide in more than 600 cities and towns. The focus of mobilization should therefore be Alsace and the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region.
The action in the capital would drag on all day, said 31-year-old taxi driver Steve. Despite the use of special forces of the police, the demonstrators plan to drive at a snail's pace over the Paris city highway and thus obstruct the traffic.
The protesters can call on the support of a vast majority of Frenchmen: According to a survey by pollster Odoxa published this week, three-quarters of respondents support the protest movement. 15 percent of respondents said they wanted to participate themselves.
The government had announced a crackdown on police in the event of traffic disruption. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe warned on Friday that it was "unacceptable" that the rallies "block a whole country".