LOC20:32
17:32 GMT
PARIS, Dec 15 (KUNA) -- Countrywide social protests by the so-called 'Yellow Vest' movement declined in number and violence Saturday during the fifth national outcry day against diminishing purchasing power and taxation issues, the French Interior Ministry said.
The Interior Ministry evaluated at around 33,000 the number of demonstrators in various cities, including only around 3,000 in central Paris, mainly on the prestigious Champs Elysees avenue.
There were more than 8,000 riot police and security forces mobilised in Paris to prevent violence and looting.
The central Champs Elysees thoroughfare had been the scene of very violent exchanges for the past four Saturdays, when 'Yellow Vests' clashed with riot police and anarchists and other extremists infiltrated the protest and attacked public building and private businesses, causing billions of Euros in damage and losses to commerce at a normally peak season ahead of the Christmas holiday.
Some clashes were reported in the French capital Saturday but nothing on the scale of the earlier violence in the past month.
Violence was also reported in Bordeaux and Nantes and in some other locations but again the intensity of the protest movement appears to be easing off.
President Emmanuel Macron on Monday announced some concessions to the 'Yellow Vest' movement, including higher minimum wages and a cut in some taxes on the least well-off retirees which seems to have had an effect on the protests.
A terror attack that killed four and wounded 12 in Strasbourg on Tuesday also led to a governmental call for national solidarity and called for a halt to protests which were risking public security. This call was another factor to keep people off the streets.
Lastly, zero degree Celsius temperatures and rainy weather in many parts of the country likely deterred some protesters from taking to the streets. (end)
jk.sd