Belgium accident linked to ‘yellow vests’ protest
Demonstrators began gathering on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on Saturday morning for a fifth weekend of protests in defiance of calls by the French government to stay home.
The protests stem from frustration, especially in non-urban areas, about spiralling fuel taxes and declining spending power.
A driver died in Belgium near the border with France on Friday evening after hitting a truck which had slowed down due to a blockade by “yellow vest” protesters, a local government official said.
The death takes to seven the number of people who have died in incidents linked to the anti-government protests in France which began on November 17 over rising petrol and diesel costs.
Most of the deaths have been in accidents at blockades or barriers set up by protesters on roundabouts or on roads leading to motorways.
On December 1, an 80-year-old woman was fatally injured by a tear-gas grenade fired by police in Marseille.
The accident on Friday night happened in the Erquelinnes area of Belgium at a junction between the N40 and N54 roads “after a slowdown in France caused by the ‘yellow vests’,” the local government office in northern France said.
Also read: France’s ‘yellow vest’ protesters gather on decisive weekend
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