Hundreds of women on Sunday marched in Paris to reclaim France's "yellow vest" movement from violent activists, a day after protesters smashed their way into a government ministry. The women, wearing yellow vests, turned out after 50,000 people returned to the streets of France on Saturday amid violent clashes with police. Some of the women waved yellow balloons and pushed prams. Protests were also held in other French cities. "All the media ever reports is the violence, and we are forgetting the root of the problem" which is the fight against austerity, said one protester, Karen, a 42-year-old nurse from Marseille. The women sang the "Marseillaise", France's national anthem, as they gathered on the steps of the city's opera house at Bastille before marching through nearby streets. The women's demonstrations came as Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire called for an end to the "yellow vest" unrest, saying "those who believe in democracy" should now say "that's enough",

The Yellow Vest movement reached Ireland this past Saturday (15/12/18), with approximately 200 people taking to the streets of Dublin in hi-vis vests, protesting among other things, the government of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, and his regime of nanny-statism and extortionate taxation. However, at the demonstration, there was a clear divide between two different groups, roughly half and half in number. One group consisted of normal everyday Janes and Joes, new to street activism. The other, consisted of the usual bunch of Far Left types such as People Before Profit and #TakeBackTheCity activists. Neither side cooperated well, in chanting or even when it came to marching in the correct direction. By the time the procession made it to the Department of the Taoiseach, having started at the Customs House at 2pm, it had halved in number. It should have been obvious that this would happen before the crowd gathered outside the Customs House. In the weeks before the event,

The number of people arrested since the beginning of the massive popular protests that have gripped France for weeks has surpassed a staggering 4,500, with critics calling the actions of the authorities crackdown on democracy. The French police have detained a total of 4,523 people in connection to the so-called Yellow Vests protests that united tens of thousands of people across the country discontent with taxes polices and fuel prices hikes. Of those almost 4,100 still remain in police custody, the French BFM TV broadcaster reported, citing police sources. Earlier, the French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner confirmed that more than 1,900 people were arrested in connection to the protests in just one day – on Saturday, December 8. More than 1,700 of them were taken into custody. However, the French media later reported that the number of those arrested on that day might in fact have reached 2,000 people. Part of those arrests seemed to be a preventive measu