Newspaper Page Text
8A Monday, December 17, 2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
WORLD
Yellow vest protesters
still block French roads
BOB EDME I Associated Press
French police officers evacuate demonstrators wearing
yellow vests near the French Spanish border in Biriatou during
a protest Saturday, Dec. 15, in Biriatou, southwestern France.
BY SAMUEL PETREQUIN
Associated Press
PARIS — Yellow vest pro
testers occupied dozens of
traffic roundabouts across
France on Sunday even as
their movement for eco
nomic justice appeared to be
losing momentum on the fifth
straight weekend of protests.
The road blockades
remained despite a call by
Interior Minister Christophe
Castaner to free the round
abouts from the traffic chaos
created by the protests. Eight
people have died in incidents
tied to the yellow vest move
ment, mostly from traffic
accidents linked to roads
blocked by protesters.
The demonstrators are
demanding more measures
to help France’s work
ers and retirees and want
top officials in President
Emmanuel Macron’s centrist
government to resign, includ
ing Macron himself.
Despite the cold weather,
protesters occupying a round
about near the southern city
of Orange close to a major
highway pledged to keep
holding more demonstra
tions, including blocking fuel
depots.
“Mr. Castaner, if you want
us to clear roundabouts, you
will need to offer your resig
nation. We don’t need bandits
of your kind,” a protester
identified as Nicolas told the
BFM TV channel.
Some yellow vest protest
ers — whose movement
takes its name from the
safety garb that all French
motorists must carry — set
up a small fire with wooden
planks and held a barbecue
at a roundabout near the city
of Reims in the Champagne
region. Some of them wore
Santa hats and deployed a
banner that read “Revolu
tion 2018.”
On Saturday, yellow
vest demonstrators took to
the streets in cities across
France, including in Paris,
but in far fewer numbers
than on previous weekends:
69,000 compared to 125,000
a week before. Paris police
had to fire tear gas and water
cannon across the Champs-
Elysees and some protesters
scuffled with police.
In an effort to defuse
France’s social crisis,
Macron has announced a
series of measures aimed at
improving people’s spending
power.
The package, which
includes a 100-euro ($113)
monthly increase to the
minimum wage, might have
played a role in deterring
protests but did not help
improve Macron’s popular
ity. According to an opinion
poll published Sunday by
the Le Journal du Diman-
che newspaper, Macron’s
approval rate dipped to 23
percent in the last month.
The yellow vests move
ment brings together people
of all political backgrounds
with a multitude of demands.
Among the most popular
in recent days is the demand
to introduce in the French
constitution a “citizens’ initia
tive referendum” that would
allow citizens to propose new
laws.
Bomb kills 8 in Syrian town
Associated Press
BEIRUT — A bomb
blast in a northwestern Syr
ian town held by Turkish-
backed opposition forces
killed at least eight people
and wounded two dozen Sun
day, activists and local secu
rity said, the latest in a series
of attacks along the border
where Turkey has troops.
The spike in attacks fol
lows Turkish threats to
expand its offensive against
U.S.-backed Syrian Kurd
ish forces, moving from the
areas it currently controls
in northwestern Syria to
the east, where U.S troops
are also based. The U.S-led
coalition against the Islamic
State group backs the Syrian
Kurdish fighters who have
gained control of nearly 30
percent of Syrian territory,
mostly in eastern Syria,
after chasing out IS militants
from the area. But Turkey
considers the Kurdish mili
tia an existential threat and
considers it an extension
of an insurgency within its
territory.
Turkey has backed Syrian
opposition fighters to fight
IS militants and uproot the
Kurdish militia from along
its borders since 2016.
Meanwhile in Doha, Tur
key’s foreign minister said
if Syrian President Bashar
Assad were to win interna
tionally monitored elections,
then Turkey and other coun
tries would consider working
with him. “If it’s democratic
elections and if it’s a cred
ible one, then everybody
should consider that,” Mev-
lut Cavusoglu said, speaking
at the Doha Forum in Qatar.
The Turkish minister said
“credible, transparent, dem
ocratic and fair elections”
must take place where Syr
ians, including those abroad,
can vote. More than 5.6
Syrians live as refugees in
neighboring countries, the
majority of them in Turkey.
Besides its military oper
ations, Turkey has been
engaged with Russia and
Iran, the two main allies of
Assad in the war, leading
cease-fire talks and efforts
to form a constitutional
committee made up of rep
resentatives of Assad’s gov
ernment and the opposition,
which Ankara backs. Cease
fires have largely held, but
the formation of a constitu
tional committee has stalled
amid disagreements over
representation.
Images of the Sunday
attack showed small fires
and damaged vehicles at
a busy market in central
Afrin. Vegetables and other
merchandise littered the
ground, as sirens rang out
and rescuers searched for
casualties.
The Britain-based Syr
ian Observatory for Human
Rights said the explosion
killed eight people and
appeared to have been
caused by a car bomb. It
said the bomb went off in
a market near the base of
one of the Islamist opposi
tion groups governing Afrin.
The activist-operated Shaam
news agency reported the
same toll.
Ahmed Kurdi, a local
security official, said the
bombing killed eight and
wounded 24 others, all of
them civilians. He said a sec
ond car bomb was discov
ered and diffused before it
exploded.
Another attack on Thurs
day killed at least three civil
ians and one Turkish soldier.
The U.S.-Kurdish alli
ance has soured relations
between Ankara and Wash
ington. Turkey views the
main Kurdish militia as an
extension of an insurgency
within its borders.
The U.S. military has set
up observation posts to try
to prevent friction between
its NATO ally and the Syrian
Kurdish militia. The Penta
gon on Wednesday warned
Turkey against unilateral
action in northeastern Syria.
Late Saturday, the Euro
pean Union roreign policy
chief, Federica Mogherini,
said a possible Turkish oper
ation in eastern Syria is a
source of “concern.”
She called on Turkey to
refrain from any unilateral
action, which it said would
likely undermine efforts
against Islamic State mili
tants in the area or “risk fur
ther instability in Syria”
Turkish troops and allied
Syrian forces drove the
Kurdish militia out of Afrin
in March. The majority-
Kurdish town has since
been controlled by Turkey-
backed opposition fighters,
but has often come under
attack from Kurdish insur
gents in the area. The Kurd
ish militia and affiliated
groups complain of a system
atic campaign by Turkey’s
allies to drive out the local
Kurdish population.
North Korea observes 7th
anniversary of leader’s death
North Koreans bow at the bronze statues of their late
leaders Kim II Sung and Kim Jong II at Mansu Hill Grand
Monument in Pyongyang, North Korea, Sunday, Dec. 16.
BY ERIC TALMADGE
Associated Press
PYONGYANG, North
Korea — North Koreans
are marking the seventh
anniversary of the death
of leader Kim Jong II with
visits to statues and vows of
loyalty to his son and suc
cessor, Kim Jong Un.
As snow fell Sunday,
tens of thousands of people
offered flowers and paid
respects to the late leader
at Mansu Hill in central
Pyongyang, the location of
huge bronze statues of the
“Dear Leader” and national
founder Kim II Sung.
The anniversary obser
vations were expected to
continue through Monday
across the country.
The death of Kim Jong II
on Dec. 17, 2011, thrust his
son into power when he was
still in his late 20s and a vir
tual unknown figure outside
of the North.
Despite many predic
tions from outside experts
that he wouldn’t be up to
the task, Kim Jong Un has
consolidated his power, bol
stered the country’s econ
omy in the face of intense
international sanctions and
attained a goal his father
and grandfather could only
dream of — he is the first
North Korean leader to pos
sess an arsenal of nuclear
weapons and long-range
missiles capable of reach
ing the United States.
With attention focused on
the anniversary, there was
little mention in the state
media of the issues that
have gotten the most atten
tion elsewhere, including
a flurry of speculation in
South Korea that Kim might
visit Seoul by the end of the
year.
But the North’s official
Korean Central News
Agency ran a lengthy com
mentary late Sunday that
slammed the United States
for “slander” and “sheer
malice” against the country
and for dragging its feet on
efforts to improve relations
after Kim’s summit with
President Donald Trump in
Singapore in June.
The commentary delib
erately focused its criticism
on the State Department
and administration offi
cials, not at Trump, suggest
ing that Pyongyang remains
open to another summit.
Trump has suggested he
could meet Kim again early
next year.
With Kim’s power base
seemingly more solid than
ever, and his recent effort
to establish himself on the
world stage through sum
mits with Trump and oth
ers, North Korea watchers
have been on the lookout for
signs that his own personal
ity cult is being bolstered.
Virtually all homes and
public offices in North
Korea feature portraits of
the elder Kims, who are
also memorialized in count
less statues, mosaics and
cenotaphs around the coun
try. North Korean adults
wear pins over their hearts
DITA ALANGKARA I Associated Press
bearing the likenesses of
Kim II Sung of Kim Jong II,
or both.
The North has yet to
come out with a Kim Jong
Un pin or to order his
image join the others on
every wall, though Kim
and his wife, Ri Sol Ju,
have been referred to with
increasingly lofty titles —
“chairman” for Kim and
“respected first lady” for
Ri. A special portrait of
the young chairman was
unveiled recently at a cer
emony to welcome the
visit of Cuba’s president,
but none have appeared
in public since. And unlike
his father and grandfather,
Kim’s Jan. 8 birthday has
yet to be declared a national
holiday or even marked on
calendars.
None of that should be
assumed to be a sign of
weakness, however.
Kim is generally afforded
the same reverential treat
ment by the state media,
and for maintaining a
respectful step behind his
predecessors, he is credited
with showing humility and
confidence.
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