A founding leader of the yellow vest movement in France has accused president Emmanuel Macron of exploiting the Notre Dame Cathedral fire for political gain.
Ingrid Levavasseur spoke out ahead of another round of planned protests across the country this weekend.
Despite their struggles to make ends meet, some protesters made small donations for the restoration of the iconic building.
But they also felt unheard when Mr Macron addressed the nation to speak about the fire, instead of laying out his response to the social crisis that has fuelled their protests since last November.
There was further outrage when, in just a few hours, billionaires pledged hundreds of millions of euros to help restore the damaged cathedral while their demands remain unsatisfied in their longstanding fight with the French government.
Ms Levavasseur said: “You’re there, looking at all these millions accumulating, after spending five months in the streets fighting social and fiscal injustice. It’s breaking my heart.
“What happened at Notre Dame is obviously a deplorable tragedy. But nobody died.
“I’ve heard someone speaking of national mourning. Are they out of their minds?”
The blaze at Notre Dame has sent shock waves through France but Ms Levavasseur believes the image of unbroken national unity that arose in the aftermath of the fire is being politically exploited by Macron.
“It took him less than 24 hours to speak about the fire, while he made us wait for three weeks before addressing our issues,” she said.
Interior minister Christophe Castaner said 60,000 police officers will be mobilised on Saturday across France and demonstrations near Notre Dame will be banned as he expects some protests to turn violent.
Decrying the struggles of low-paid workers and pensioners, and accusing Mr Macron’s government of favouring the rich, yellow vest activists – named after the fluorescent jackets French motorists are required to keep in their cars – have been protesting for 22 consecutive weekends.
Frustrated by the lack of government response, Ms Levavasseur has stopped attending demonstrations in recent weeks but is considering returning to the streets on Saturday because of an even greater sense of being overlooked since the Notre Dame tragedy.
It appears she is not the only one feeling this way.
“The yellow vests will show their anger against the billion found in four days for stones, and nothing for the needy,” wrote Pierre Derrien on the Facebook page of a yellow vests group based in the southern city of Montpellier.
France’s richest businessman, Bernard Arnault, and his luxury goods LVMH group pledged 200 million euros (£173 million) for the reconstruction.
Billionaire Francois Pinault and his son, Francois-Henri Pinault, said they were giving 100 million euros (£86.5 million) from Artemis, the holding company that owns the Christie’s auction house and the main shareholder of luxury fashion houses including Gucci.
“If they can give dozens of millions to rebuild Notre Dame, they should stop telling us there is no money to respond to the social emergency,” CGT trade union leader Philippe Martinez said.
Some have criticised the billionaires’ donations because their pledges make them eligible for huge tax deductions.
The Pinault family has said, however, it will not ask for a tax deduction for its donation to Notre Dame, while Arnault said his family holding company was not eligible for tax breaks because it has already reached the limit for deductions.
Taxes have been one of the most pressing issues of the yellow vest movement, which has lashed out at Mr Macron for favouring the rich by eliminating a wealth tax as part of his economic stimulus plan, while average French workers have seen their living standards decline.
Anti-rich messages have flourished on social media in recent days as yellow vest protesters coordinated their action for the weekend.
Dozens of others exhorted wealthy donors to be more generous with France’s underclass.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here