The Yellow Vest Protests in France, Explained

The Story

I know this is a thing, but how did it start?

Last year, the French government announced a tax increase on gas and diesel. People in more rural and suburban areas, who do a lot of driving,said ‘merci, mais non merci.’

Enter: the yellow vest movement, also called “gilets jaunes” in French. It’s a grassroots effort that started on social media

Hold on. ‘Yellow vest’?

Got it. Go on.

Tell me more about this fuel tax.

French President Emmanuel Macron intro’d it to help fight climate change

– by nudging people away from cars that rely on diesel and other fuels and instead encouraging them to buy electric cars.

So he wants to give Mother Earth an assist. What’s the argument against that?

What’s that?

Is that true?

We have more on that, what the protesters want, and the impact of the demonstrations in theSkimm app