Praising a “historic day,” Mr Nicolle, a controversial Facebook figure who goes by the online moniker of Fly Rider, urged the Macron government to find a way out of the unrest or continue facing the wrath of protesters. Demonstrations against the government’s pro-business reforms are now in their fourth month. While they have grown smaller in size, the protests have turned increasingly violent. Mr Nicolle said in a Facebook video on Saturday: “Next week, the week after – we will continue to protest… And there will certainly be another very big day of action in three or four weeks. You can force me to wear an [electronic] bracelet, throw me in jail, it won’t change anything because the people will continue to take to the streets.
“[Saturday] was a historic day because people showed that they will not be cowed [into silence] … and remain mobilised and determined,”
Mr Nicolle said, as he accused the government of “psychological violence”.
He said: “We are being branded killers – street furniture was torched, yes, but no one was killed. And yet we’re so-called killers.”
Named after the high-visibility vests French drivers have to keep in their cars and worn by protesters, the revolt erupted over since-scrapped fuel tax hikes and the cost of living, but ballooned into a broader movement against the 41-year-old leader, his economic reforms and elitism.
Paris police fired tear gas and water cannons as the protests turned violent after weeks of relative calm, during which support for the rallies had dropped.
Protesters set fire to a bank before firefighters rushed to the scene and rescued a woman and her child from the building, with 11 suffering minor injuries, the fire department said.
Rioters also torched an upmarket handbag store and two newsstands on the Champs Elysées, where some 90 shops and businesses were vandalised.
French activist Maxime Nicolle (Image: ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/Getty Images)
French Prime Minister Edouard
