Trump points to Paris Agreement as riots continue in France

President Trump claimed the riots in Paris are a backlash against the Paris Agreement on Saturday, tweeting: “People do not want to pay large sums of money, much to third world countries (that are questionably run), in order to maybe protect the environment.”

“The Paris Agreement isn’t working out so well for Paris. Protests and riots all over France. People do not want to pay large sums of money, much to third world countries (that are questionably run), in order to maybe protect the environment. Chanting ‘We Want Trump!’ Love France.”

— President Trump

The riots in Paris — which started over fuel tax and have devolved into protests against the living standards and President Emmanuel Macron himself — have been the worst the city has seen in decades. Macron has suspended the fuel tax implementation for six months, which Trump has previously incorrectly called a signal that Macron agreed that the Paris Agreement “is fatally flawed.” Trump also retweeted a claimon Monday that protestors were chanting, “We want Trump,” though CNN reported that on-the-ground personnel “have seen no evidence” to support that.

The protests have cost millions of dollars in damage, resulting in the arrests of hundreds of protestors, and the death of at least four people.

• The New York Times reports that the city braced itself for another round of riots on Saturday, and that the Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said he expected “only a couple of thousand protestors in Paris,” but that it could become “ultraviolent.” Around 89,000 police were deployed throughout France.
• Many shops and museums in Paris, including the Eiffel Tower, were closed down, Reuters reports. Much of Paris “looked like a ghost town…on what should have been a festive pre-Christmas shopping day.”

Rice University’s Baker Institute’s Center for Energy Studies, Anna Mikulska, writes for Axios that resistance such as that in France “highlights the need to understand the mindset of billions of people…whose economic situation makes it difficult for them to justify immediate costs to their well-being…in exchange for the diffuse future benefits of climate action.”