Francois Hollande’s motorcade was greeted with boos and chanting as it rolled through Paris today on the way to a ceremony in remembrance of Armistice Day. Video posted on You Tube shows the crowd chanting and giving the thumbs down sign as Hollande passed them. France 24 reports the protesters were chanting “Hollande, step down.”
Police arrested 70 people and blamed the disturbance on “individuals linked to the far right.” They gave a lack of authorization for a protest as the official reason for the arrests.
One protester was outraged by the arrests, telling France 24 “I find it absolutely shameful that we don’t have the right to speak up without being arrested.” She added “Saying ‘Hollande, step down’ is not offensive.”
Two polls released last Friday showed that Hollande has dropped to 22 and 21 percent approval, depending on the poll cited. This marks the lowest approval of any French President in 55 years.
Hollande has endured a number of bruising fights over his plans to raise taxes, most notably his plan for a French version of the Buffett Rule. The intent was to raise taxes on the wealthy to 75 percent. This led top actor Gerard Depardieu to flee the country. Eventually the French Supreme Court declared the plan unconstitutional. Hollande came back with a new plan to raise top rates to 66.6 percent.
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