8 December 2018 12:00 am
PARIS REUTERS Dec 6 - France will close the Eiffel Tower and other tourism landmarks in Paris and draft in thousands more security forces on Saturday to stave off another wave of violent protests in the country over living costs.
With protesters from the “yellow vest” movement calling on social media for “Act IV” - a fourth weekend of protest - Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said 89,000 police nationwide would be deployed to stop a repeat of last Saturday’s mayhem across France. About 8,000 of these would be deployed in Paris where rioters torched cars and looted shops off the famed Champs Elysees boulevard, and defaced the Arc de Triomphe with graffiti directed at President Emmanuel Macron.
Seeking to regain the initiative after weeks of civil unrest, the government appeared ready to offer concessions. Yet, five days after the worst rioting central Paris has seen since 1968, all signs are that the government has failed to quell the revolt.
A repeat of last Saturday’s violence in Paris’s city centre would deal a blow to the economy and raise doubts over the government’s survival.