via Al Jazeera English
Last Thursday, France's President Emmanuel Macron announced an array of reforms including $5.5bn-worth of tax cuts for those on lower and middle incomes.
The gesture, made during a specially convened live address from the Elysee Palace, was the latest attempt by the president to assuage the "gilets jaunes", "yellow vest" protesters, who first hit the streets almost six months ago, demonstrating over the price of fuel, the cost of living and tax fairness.
Macron had initially tried to appease the movement back in December last year by boosting the minimum wage.
Fast-forward five months to the fire that consumed part of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris and, with the 'yellow vests' still turning out every Saturday in the tens of thousands, Macron's role leading the fundraising efforts for its reconstruction ended up playing right into their hands. The multimillion-dollar donations from billionaires, which happen to be tax deductible, underlined the issues of tax inequality and government priorities.
France's media have, since the beginning, been much more than a sub-plot in this story. Widespread among "yellow vests" has been that the coverage - while pouring over incidents of protester violence against police and private property - have under-reported incidents of police violence. The scale and severity of injuries inflicted by the French constabulary have indeed come as a shock to many observers.
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