Macron Hunts For Fuel Relief As Riots Rock France

French President Emmanuel Macron traveled to the Persian Gulf to secure diesel after rioters fought police and torched cars in cities across France.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain committed to send France a combined 200,000 more metric tons of diesel a month, Macron’s office, the Élysée Palace, said Tuesday, according to France 24. Counting Saudi deliveries, France now has commitments for 295,000 metric tons a month, a little more than 10 percent of what the country uses, his office added.

Kuwait also promised diesel and kerosene for France’s Indian Ocean islands of Mayotte and Réunion, with the shipments routed through Oman to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, the Élysée said. Oil prices have soared since the U.S.-Iran war began in February, with Iran blocking the strait that carries most of the Gulf’s energy exports, France 24 reported.

The average price of diesel in the U.S. was $6.32 a gallon Tuesday, compared with $3.62 a year earlier, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).

More than 500,000 people marched across France over the country’s rising cost of living on Saturday — two days before Macron landed in the United Arab Emirates.

Police arrested about 2,400 people across France on Saturday, 855 of them around Paris, the Associated Press reported. Authorities reported damage or looting at thousands of businesses. In Limoges, a fire nearly destroyed the city’s 19th-century town hall.

Macron condemned “unrestrained violence” by “insurrectionist elements from radical far-left groups, joined by numerous criminals,” the AP reported.

An 11 p.m. curfew took effect in parts of Paris Monday night, and French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on X that curfews would return where needed Tuesday night, according to Bloomberg.

The French Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Insured losses from the riots should stay under 1.2 billion euros if the violence does not continue, Marcos Alvarez, global head of insurance at the credit rating firm Morningstar DBRS, estimated in a Monday note, according to Bloomberg.

Macron convened Group of Seven leaders on Oct. 2, and they agreed to release up to 100 million barrels of diesel and crude from strategic reserves over four months, according to a statement from his office.

“The President and French government will make sure that this decline in prices on global markets is reflected in prices at the pump for all our fellow citizens,” the statement added.

Student groups called for more protests Thursday and Saturday, the AP reported. A group trying to restart the 2018 “yellow vest” protests, which started over fuel taxes, has called for marches across the country Saturday.

Several unions have called a strike for Nov. 5, according to Bloomberg.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.