‘How is the Paris Environmental Accord working out for France?’ President Trump tweeted on Saturday
President Trump says that the ongoing rioting in France is caused by dissatisfaction with the Paris accord on climate change.
‘How is the Paris Environmental Accord working out for France?’ Trump tweeted on Saturday.
‘After 18 weeks of rioting by the Yellow Vest Protesters, I guess not so well!
‘In the meantime, the United States has gone to the top of all lists on the Environment.’
It is unclear what Trump was referring to.
In 2017, Trump followed through on a campaign promise and pulled the United States out of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.
The agreement, which was signed by 196 state parties, is a nonbinding accord in which countries are encouraged to set ambitious targets which would reduce greenhouse gases.
The current 'yellow vest' protests in Paris were triggered in part by anger over rising fuel prices and the high cost of living.
In 2017, Trump followed through on a campaign promise and pulled the United States out of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. He is seen above during the announcement on June 1, 2017
French President Emmanuel Macron (left) presides over an emergency crisis meeting with the French interior minister, Christophe Castaner (right), in Paris on Saturday
French President Emmanuel Macron has cut short a skiing trip in the Pyrenees to return to Paris for a crisis meeting after 'yellow vest' protesters trashed shops and torched cars in the heart of Paris.
Businesses on the famed Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris were destroyed on Saturday, on the 18th weekend of French the protests, characterised by a sharp increase in violence after weeks of dwindling turnout.
Macron was holding an emergency meeting at the interior ministry late Saturday night, his office said.
Protesters were seen vandalising and later setting fire to Fouquet's brasserie, a favourite hangout of the rich and famous for the past century - as well as luxury handbag store Longchamp, a bank, another restaurant and several news stands.
'Like the vast majority of French people, I feel very angry today,' tweeted French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who visited the scene.
'Today's actions are not the work of protesters, but of looters, arsonists and criminals. No cause justifies this violence,' he added.
In a statement, the national police denounced the 'mindless violence, cowardly attacks' and stressed their determination to guarantee public order against 'provocateurs and vandals'.
Famed French brasserie restaurant Fouquet's burns on the Champs Elysees avenue during a yellow vests demonstration Saturday, March 16. President Nicolas Sarkozy celebrated his 2007 electoral victory there
A Yellow Vest protester throws a European flag onto a burning pile of chairs on the 18th consecutive Saturday of demonstrations by the protest movement
A masked man holds up a sign (foreground) that reads 'Macron mutilates the Nation; Police and Media corps don't become his accomplice' at a march in Bordeaux, western France
Violence erupted in Paris today as Yellow Vest protesters calling for French President Emmanuel Macron to resign took to the streets for the eighteenth Saturday in a row
The Yellow Vest movement is a populist, grassroots protest fueled by anger over the high cost of living and the government's austerity policies
Protestors have vandalised many of the cars and restaurant furniture left in the street, including this motorcycle and a forklift truck down a street in central Paris
According to a French consumer group, the five weekends of protests are predicted to have cost the consumer economy €2 billion. Source: National Centre of Shopping Malls (CNCC)
Firefighters look for evidence in the charred remains of a newsagent set alight during clashes with riot police forces
The nationwide protests are against the President Macron's 'top-down' style of governing, the high cost of living, government tax reforms as they demand more 'social and economic justice'
Violence erupted as the protesters called for the French president to resign.
Teargas and baton charged were used by riot police on a so-called 'Act XVIII' Day of Rage organised by the Yellow Vest movement.
Fighting broke out on the Champs Elysee, the most famous avenue in the French capital, by 11am, when there had already been 25 arrests.
'Gangs are targeting police, and carrying out numerous acts of vandalism,' said an officer at the scene.
'Fires are being lit, including in cars. Thousands are arriving all over the city, and we are already extremely stretched.'
Protests were not just organised by the Yellow Vests – who are named after their high visibility motoring jackets – but by climate change protesters.
