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4C Sunday, November 25, 2018 ★
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
LOCAL/WORLD
French protesters clash with police over fuel tax
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CHRISTOPHE ENA I Associated Press
Plumes of smoke are seen near the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-
Elysees avenue decorated with the Christmas lightings during a protest
against tax Saturday, Nov. 24, in Paris.
BY THOMAS ADAMSON
Associated Press
PARIS — French police fired
tear gas and water cannons to dis
perse violent demonstrators in
Paris on Saturday, as thousands
gathered in the capital and beyond
and staged road blockades to vent
anger against rising fuel taxes.
Thousands of police were
deployed nationwide to contain the
eighth day of deadly demonstra
tions that started as protests against
tax but morphed into a rebuke of
President Emmanuel Macron and
the perceived elitism of France’s
ruling class. Two people have been
killed since Nov. 17 in protest-
related tragedies.
Tense clashes on the Champs-
Elysees that ended by dusk Sat
urday saw police face off with
demonstrators who burned ply
wood, wielded placards reading
“Death to Taxes” and upturned a
large vehicle.
At least 19 people, including four
police officers, were slightly hurt
and one person had more seri
ous injuries in the day of unrest in
Paris, according to police.
Macron responded in a strongly
worded tweet: “Shame on those
who attacked (police). Shame on
those who were violent against
other citizens ... No place for this
violence in the Republic.”
Police said that dozens of pro
testers were detained for “throw
ing projectiles,” among other acts.
By nightfall the Champs-Elysees
was smoldering and in the Place
de la Madeleine, burned scooters
lay on the sidewalk like blackened
shells.
“It’s going to trigger a civil war
and me, like most other citizens,
we’re all ready,” said Benjamin
Vrignaud, a 21-year-old protester
from Chartres.
“They take everything from us.
They steal everything from us,”
said 21-year-old Laura Cordonnier.
The famed avenue was speckled
with plumes of smoke and neon
— owing to the color of the vests
the self-styled “yellow jacket” pro
testers don. French drivers are
required to keep neon security
vests in their vehicles.
Interior Minister Christophe
Castaner said that 8,000 protesters
flooded the Champs-Elysees at the
demonstration’s peak and there
were nearly 106,000 protesters and
130 arrests in total nationwide.
Castaner denounced protest
ers from the far-right whom he
called “rebellious,” as he accused
National Assembly leader Marine
Le Pen of encouraging them.
But the Interior Ministry played
down the scale of Saturday’s dem
onstrations by highlighting that up
to 280,000 people took part in last
Saturday’s protest.
The unrest is proving a major
challenge for embattled Macron,
who’s suffering in the polls.
The leader, who swept to power
only last year, is the focus of rage
for the “yellow jacket” demonstra
tors who accuse the pro-business
centrist of elitism and indifference
to the struggles of ordinary French.
Macron has so far held strong
and insisted the fuel tax rises are a
necessary pain to reduce France’s
dependence on fossil fuels and fund
renewable energy investments — a
cornerstone of his reforms of the
nation. He will defend fresh plans
to make the “energy transition”
easier next week.
Paris deployed some 3,000 secu
rity forces on Saturday, notably
around tourist-frequented areas,
after an unauthorized attempt last
week to march on the presidential
Elysee Palace.
Police officials said that a no-go
zone, set up around key areas
including the presidential palace
and the National Assembly on the
Left Bank of the Seine River, has
not been breached.
But authorities are struggling
because the movement has no
clear leader and has attracted
a motley group of people with
broadly varying demands.
The anger is mainly over a hike
in the diesel fuel tax, which has
gone up seven euro cents per liter
(nearly 30 U.S. cents per gallon)
and will keep climbing in com
ing years, according to Transport
Minister Elisabeth Borne. The
tax on gasoline is also to increase
four euro cents. Gasoline currently
costs about 1.64 euros a liter in
Paris ($7.06 a gallon), slightly more
than diesel.
Far left leader Jean-Luc Melen-
chon explained to BFMTV the his
torical importance of this issue in
the Gallic mindset: “When tax is
no longer agreed to, it’s the start of
revolutions in France.”
CENTER
■ Continued from 1C
Overlook Recovery’s clinical
director Cindy Armstrong.
“He models our philosophy,
and his enthusiasm, warmth
and personal story will help
others in their recovery
journey.”
With an in-house chef
cooking three times a day
and an activity room hold
ing a ping-pong table and
cornhole boards, the sum
mer-camp feel belies the
rigid structure for those in
the program.
“A typical day consists of
study time, group therapy,
psychoeducation, struc
tured or expressive activi
ties, and relapse prevention
classes. Individual counsel
ing, introduction to self-help
groups, recreational activi
ties, and appointments with
the medical director are
also part of the schedule,”
according to the treatment
center’s website.
And of course, no cell
phones. Nix said the
strategy is letting go of dis
tractions and learning again
how to disconnect and have
fun.
Nix recalled his teenage
years spent trying to keep
up with his peers.
“I was creating an iden
tity crisis with myself, and I
never could meet the mark.
That’s where a lot of my
insecurities came into play,
because I had this vision of
what I thought things should
be ... which is what I saw
online,” he said.
Regarding the choice
for only boys, Nix said the
statistics show male ado
lescents reporting a higher
rate of substance abuse than
their female counterparts.
The Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services
Administrations published
survey results in 2015 show
ing 10.7 percent of boys 12
and up reported substance
dependence or abuse com
pared to 5.7 percent of girls
in that age range.
“We recognize that there
is not a lot of female ado
lescent resources, so that’s
why we’re trying to make
the steps moving forward
to be able to provide that
resource for the female
population,” Nix said.
The intended length of
stay is between four to six
weeks, though it is on an
individual basis.
The ideal ratio, Nix said,
for counselor to adolescents
is 1:8.
Most of the participants
will be in rooms for two to
avoid a feeling of isolation,
while the staff has heavy
security and monitoring
Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
A classroom is available at Eagle Overlook Recovery for Adolescents in Dahlonega on Thursday, Nov. 15.
Eagle Overlook Recovery for Adolescents is a new treatment center in Dahlonega.
CHALLENGE
■ Continued from 1C
permit a reliable determination of
the vote count.”
Georgia’s election practices have
been challenged repeatedly in court
this year.
Democrat Stacey Abrams, who
ran for governor, has promised
to file a federal lawsuit over the
way Georgia elections are run. She
accused Brian Kemp, the state’s new
governor, of using his then-secretary
of state’s office to aggressively purge
the rolls of inactive voters, enforce
an “exact match” policy for check
ing voters’ identities that left thou
sands of registrations in limbo, and
enact other policies to tilt the out
come in his favor.
The claims in the election con
test filed Friday reflect many of the
issues raised in the Curling v. Kemp
lawsuit regarding Georgia’s flawed
electronic voting system. The Coali
tion for Good Governance also orga
nized that 2017 lawsuit now pending
in federal court. The Secretary of
State and the State Election Board
have appealed the case, which is
expected to be tried in 2019.
“Georgia voters must not be
forced to accept election outcomes
that cannot be verified and in which
they have no confidence. The anom
alies in this race, combined with the
thousands of voters’ complaints of
malfunctioning machines, erroneous
voter registration files, improperly
rejected ballots, and irregularities in
vote counts, cast tremendous doubt
on the election,” said Marilyn Marks,
executive director of Coalition for
Good Governance.
“Every Georgia voter deserves to
have confidence her vote is counted
as cast,” said Morgan County voter
and plaintiff Jeanne Dufort. “Our
Secretary of State and election offi
cials are supposed to guard that
trust — instead, the people of Geor
gia have had to rely on the courts to
make sure our elections are fair and
secure. We demand better. It’s time
for voter-verified paper trails with
postelection audits and secure, accu
rate voter rolls. ”We demand better.
It’s time for voter-verified paper trails
with postelection audits and secure,
accurate voter rolls. ”
procedures in place.
Though the participants
do take part in some activi
ties away from the secluded
center, the property also
offers hiking trails leading
up to the Chestatee River.
“I’ll speak for myself and
a lot of adolescents that
I’ve come into contact with.
For me, recovery had to be
attractive in the beginning. I
had to gather enough infor
mation and I had to be able
to see that recovery worked
well for you. I had to know
that my life wasn’t just going
to be over because I got
sober,” Nix said.
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