Riot Leaves Mother, Child Trapped in Burning Bank

Luckily, it was firefighters to the rescue
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Mar 16, 2019 11:39 AM CDT
Riot Leaves Mother, Child Trapped in Burning Bank
A barricade burns on the Champs Elysees avenue Saturday, March 16, 2019 in Paris.   (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

A bank has been set ablaze as French yellow vest protesters clash with police in Paris and firefighters had to rescue a mother and her child as the fire threatened to engulf their floor. Florian Lointier, spokesman for Paris' firefighters, told the AP that 11 people sustained light injuries Saturday in the blaze, including two firefighters. The fire in the bank, which was on the ground floor of a seven-story residential building near the Champs-Elysees Avenue, was later extinguished. Lointier said a mother and her child were saved from the flames on the second floor and other residents were safely evacuated. French yellow vest protesters are rioting in a 18th straight weekend of demonstrations against President Emmanuel Macron.

Large plumes of smoke rose above Paris' landmark Champs-Elysees avenue as French yellow vest protesters set life-threatening fires, smashed up luxury stores, and clashed with police, who tried to contain the demonstrators with tear gas and water cannons. Fire trucks rushed and extinguished two burning newspaper kiosks that had been set ablaze. The violence started when protesters threw smoke bombs and other objects at officers along the famed avenue in the French capital. The chaos comes after a two-month national debate that Macron organized to respond to protesters' concerns about sinking living standards, high unemployment, stagnant wages, and general income inequality.

(More Paris stories.)

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