'Yellow vests' riots scuttle EU chief's Paris visit

By Yusuf Hatip</p> <p>BRUSSELS (AA) – A visit by the EU chief visit to France on Tuesday was cancelled over the &quot;yellow vests&quot; fuel tax protests, European Commission sources said on Monday.</p> <p>European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was expected to address the French National Assembly on Tuesday but his visit to Paris was scuttled over the protests.</p> <p>Juncker was also expected to meet French President Emmanuel Macron for a dinner Tuesday as well as French National Assembly President Richard Ferrand, but these meetings were postponed.</p> <p>Thousands of &quot;yellow vest&quot; protesters have gathered in Paris and several other cities for the last two weeks to protest Macron's controversial fuel tax.</p> <p>Demonstrators, who generally live in rural areas due to high rents in the cities, have demanded Macron cut fuel taxes and make economic arrangements that will ease their lives.</p> <p>French police on Saturday cracked down on protesters around the famous Champs-Elysees in Paris with tear gas and water cannons.</p> <p>Demonstrators set a large number of vehicles and trash cans ablaze and pelted stones and bottles at the police.</p> <p>So far in the riots, at least two people have been killed, while 1,043 others — including 222 security forces — were injured, and 1,424 persons were arrested.</p> <p>According to a recent survey, 84 percent of French people support the protestors, mostly from the middle-income group.</p> <p>Over the last year, fuel prices in France have risen more than 20 percent.</p> <p>