Anadolu Agency gives Yellow Vest protests live coverage

PARIS

Anadolu Agency, Turkey’s leading news agency, will broadcast live the weekend Yellow Vest protests from France, Belgium the Netherlands, with breaking news, live footage, and a stream of photos.

France Saturday will see the fourth wave of Yellow Vest protests, which started in mid-November and this week forced the government to scrap plans to raise fuel prices.

Protesters wearing the bright vests -- required of all car owners in France -- are expected to gather along the famous Champs-Elysees and Elysee Palace as well as other sites to demonstrate.

Anadolu Agency will follow the protests with an extensive news crew including reporters, photojournalists, and camera people. Three different teams will be broadcasting live from various hot spots.

Belgium

To France’s northeast, Brussels -- the capital of Belgium and the European Union's de facto capital -- is also expected to have a busy day on Saturday. Organized via social media, the Yellow Vests in Brussels will amass around EU institutions in the city.

Police in the city took measures against possible unrest, as in previous weeks over 1,000 protesters gathered, erecting barricades and targeting police vehicles as well as damaging shops.

Anadolu Agency teams in Brussels will broadcast live and report breaking news.

The Netherlands

Anadolu Agency will also be broadcasting live from the Netherlands.

Agency correspondents will report on protests in the urban centers of Rotterdam, The Hague, Eindhoven, Leeuwarden, Groningen, Alkmaar, Nijmegen Tiel, Zaltbommel, and Maastricht.

Thousands of Yellow Vest protesters have been gathering in major French cities including Paris since Nov. 17 to protest President Emmanuel Macron's controversial fuel tax hikes and the deteriorating economic situation in France.

The demonstrators, who generally live in rural areas due to high rents in the cities, called on Macron to cut fuel taxes and ease their economic difficulties.

At least three people have died during the riots, while over 1,000 have been injured, including 222 members of the security forces. Over 1,400 people have been arrested.

According to a recent survey, 84 percent of the French people -- mostly from the middle-income group -- support the protests.

Fuel prices in France have risen more than 20 percent this year.

Reporting by Hasan Esen by Handan Kazanci