A second person died in France in connection with the protests of the „Yellow Safety Vests“ civic movement. A 37-year-old motorcyclist died on Tuesday his serious injuries, as reported by French judiciary.
He had driven past a traffic jam in Portes-lès-Valence, Drôme department in the southeast of the country, on Monday because of a roadblock of demonstrators, and had collided with a van that wanted to turn around because of the congestion.
The investigation was still ongoing, „but we have two people who died at roadblocks,“ said State Secretary Laurent Nuñez on TV channel BFM.
At the start of the nationwide protests, nearly 290,000 people took to the streets on Saturday. In the process, a car driver overtook a 63-year-old woman demonstrator at a road blockade in the department of Savoie in the east of the country. Overall, about 530 people have been injured since Saturday, 17 of them seriously.
The civic movement is protesting, among other things, against the planned increase in diesel and gasoline taxes on 1 January. Also on Tuesday, thousands of people participated in street blockades and other protests.
President Emmanuel Macron called for „dialogue“. He wanted to explain his policy to find a way out, he said during a visit to Belgium. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner ordered that the blockades of fuel depots and other „strategically“ important issues be resolved. He lamented a „radicalization“ of the civic movement.
