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Yellow Vests Week 20 in France involved 33,700 protesters if you go by the government's estimate and over 102,000 if you go by the Yellow Vests own estimate. The authorities say some 4,000 protesters were in Paris This 22 minute video was posted on You Tube showing highlights including confrontational situations between demonstrators and police.... Checkpoints were set up on highways around Paris with at least nine cities imposing bans on demonstrations. A heavy police presence with checkpoints around Avignon, France today A protest ban in the city center as Yellow Vests called a major protest there. The police and...

The 20th Week in a row of Yellow Vests protests in France today with more cities imposing restrictions on protests in central business districts. But there's other important news about the incident in Nice last weekend.....

President Trump will take executive action invoking emergency powers to help secure the nation's southern border and sign the bill coming out of Congress that only provides limited funding for a border barrier. A figure of eight billion dollars in spending on a barrier...... From Syria a local media report that Russian military police in the area of the Kurdish city of Manbij are operating joint patrols with the Turkish military..... It was called a conference on "peace and security in the Middle East". Some 60 nations represented at the conference in Warsaw this but only two nations with high...

The opposition takes to the streets of Venezuela today, the anniversary of the overthrow of a dictator in 1958, with the backing of the United States as expressed by Vice-President Mike Pence who said yesterday via Twitter: "@POTUS & the US stand w/ the Venezuelan people as they seek to regain their liberty from dictator Nicolas Maduro.... "The resistance will not allow our people's blood to be used as fuel in the election campaign in Israel, and it has the tools to defend the people" That is the message from the Hamas terror organization that runs the Gaza Strip following...

(LATEST NEWS AT BOTTOM OF POST) (215 AM EASTERN, 815 AM IN PARIS) Another day and perhaps another weekend of protest in Paris as Act 10 of the Yellow Vests gets underway. Social media has spoken of the notion of protests both days this weekend but a major theme is "Back to Paris" and that's one of the numerous places in France where protests are expected today. Places for protest to name a few Marseille, Bordeaux, Dijon, Clermont-Ferrand and the list goes on.......

Following sustained anti-government protests the French government has announced plans to strictly control what it calls ‘unsanctioned’ protests. Wearing masks on demonstrations will also be prohibited. Speaking on French TV channel TF1, Prime Minister Philippe said the government would support a “new law punishing those who do not respect the requirement to declare [protests], those who take part in unauthorised demonstrations and those who arrive at demonstrations wearing face masks”. Protest leaders have begun to be arrested. A truck driver, Eric Drouet, was arrested last week for organising an ‘unsanctioned’ protest. Some politicians want to go further. Laurent Wauquiez, leader...

The harsh language of President Emmanuel Macron calling Yellow Vests racists and anti-Semites and homophobes in essence by calling them the forces of "hate" and his call for order "without compromise" aroused feeling in their own right Monday night when he spoke them on New Year's Eve.......

The Champs-Elysees will be the main site of protest in Paris from 10am to 5pm Saturday (4am to 11am Eastern time US) with some Yellow Vests set to march to the Palace de la Bourse in the middle of the day. There is a march in the afternoon from Paris City Hall to the area of the National Assembly where a response will be read to President Emmanuel Macron's speech denouncing "hate" coming from the Yellow Vests and promising order "without compromise" on New Year's Eve. BFM-TV reported at mid-day Friday that 10-thousand had expressed interest on Facebook in the...

Yellow Vests protester Eric Drouet says he attempted to stage a protest in Paris Wednesday night to: "show the French that we are not free"..... In Washington the political change with a new session of Congress Thursday...... Seven are dead and eight injured, some critically, after a fiery accident on I-75 near Gainesville, Florida Thursday..... A legendary Chicago machine politician is under federal indictment for attempted extortion...... A group of 11 men are being tried in Saudi Arabia for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi..... Israel's Attorney General Avechai Mandelblit says: "I an working with the Chief Prosecutor and spend...

"We wanted to show the French that we are not free" Eric Drouet "Facebook" Video Thursday 1/3/2019 Following His Release "The French police have arrested a prominent leader of the Yellow Vest movement for a second time, in a clear sign that the governmnt is following through on a pledge to crack down on the protests...." Adam Nossiter-"New York Times" 1/3/2019 He's released from jail Thursday and will face a court date on February 15th, but Eric Drouet says his attempt to launch a Yellow Vests protest Wednesday was designed to show the people of France that they are not...

Eric Drouet, one of the visible figures of the Yellow Vests protest movement, was arrested near the Palace de la Concorde in Paris at 9pm local time Wednesday. He is accused of "undeclared protest" as the Google translation puts it. Drouet was enroute to meet other protesters in the city. His arrest follows President Emmanuel Macron's tough New Year's Eve message about "hate" coming from the ranks of the Yellow Vests. Macron promised order: "without compromise" in France in the coming year. Others were arrested with Drouet. He was taken away under arrest by a swarm of police. Drouet's lawyer...

One of the leaders of the "yellow vest" anti-government demonstrations, Eric Drouet, was detained by French police and placed in custody on Wednesday for organising a central Paris protest without declaring it, according to a source at the prosecutors office. Drouet -- who already faces a trial for carrying a weapon -- was held while heading for the Champs-Elysees, according to a police source. A few dozen demonstrators had gathered outside a McDonalds near France's famous Arc de Triomphe war monument and had been waiting for Drouet to arrive early Wednesday evening. "Yellow vest" demonstrations -- so-called after the high-visibility...