Paris cleans up riot debris as support fades for protesters
PARIS • Business owners, city employees and construction workers dug in Sunday to clean up one of the world’s most glamorous avenues, after riots by ultraviolent yellow vest protesters trashed the Champs-Elysees in Paris to express anger at French President Emmanuel Macron’s economic policies.
Luxury stores, restaurants and banks on the famed avenue assessed the damage after they were ransacked, looted or blackened by life-threatening fires set by some protesters Saturday.
Tourists took pictures, shop owners repaired broken windows and city workers scrubbed away graffiti.
French political and security officials, meanwhile, met to come up with better plans to counter the violence.
About 10,000 people participated in Saturday’s Paris protest, according to France’s Interior Ministry. Police arrested 192 people.
A cyclist rides past the smashed windows of the famed tea salon Laduree on the Champs Elysees the day after it was vandalized during the 18th straight weekend of demonstrations by the yellow vests, in Paris, France, Sunday, March 17, 2019. Paris cleaned up one of the world’s most glamorous avenues Saturday after resurgent rioting by yellow vest protesters angry at President Emmanuel Macron stunned the nation. (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh)
