The Yellow Vest toll: Number of injured in French protests almost 3,000
At least 2,891 people have been injured amid the Yellow Vest protests in France since they started in mid-November. The death toll has risen to nine this week, the government reported.
The country’s Interior Ministry shared the figure on Thursday. It includes 1,843 civilians and 1,048 law enforcement officers. The ministry said nine people have been killed, with the death toll rising on Thursday after a protester in his 60s was killed by a truck on a roundabout road in the municipality of Agen in southern France.
Most of the deaths in the protest campaign came in road incidents, as protesters were trying to block traffic.
The ‘gilets jaunes’ rallies were triggered by the French government’s plan to increase the fuel tax, triggering a backlash from motorists, who adopted the mandatory yellow visibility vest as their symbol. It has since grown into a wider anti-government movement opposing economic reforms of President Emmanuel Macron, which the protesters see as benefitting the rich and victimizing the poor.
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