French police repeatedly used tear gas and water cannons to break up a protest Saturday by nearly a 1,000 yellow vest demonstrators in the southern city of Toulouse. At least one arrest was made during the march, which started in the afternoon. It was led by demonstrators brandishing a giant banner which said "Fed up of surviving. We want to live." They also burnt a parasol in front of a McDonalds outlet. In the capital Paris, some yellow vests joined a climate protest march.
The weekly protest came two days after the French government unveiled a draft 2020 budget with more than nine billion euros in tax cuts for households. It includes five billion euros in tax cuts for some 12 million households already promised by President Emmanuel Macron, the result of a "great national debate" he held to try to address the ongoing protests.
Macron, who swept to the presidency in 2017 with a pledge to get the country back on a solid financial footing, was caught short by the "yellow vest" movement which accused the former investment banker of ignoring the day-to-day struggles of many French. Demonstrations have been banned on the Champs-Elysees after protesters clashed with police on the famous Paris avenue on December 8 last year, in the early days of the yellow vest protests. On that weekend, police detained 900 people: the most since the anti-government protests began.
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