>>4264621 (pb)

Yes, Macron did declare a state of emergency,https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/emmanuel-macron-has-declared-a-state-of-emergency-in-france-and-vowed-to-take-action/news-story/2eb0bd8044c8f0e689364f4169e2d56a

Don't know if it impies what was stated in the post though. You can find the transcript of what he said here https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2018/12/10/le-verbatim-de-l-allocution-televisee-du-president-de-la-republique_5395523_823448.html

and my translation of the full transcript:

People of France, here we are together at the crossroads of our country and our future. The events of recent weeks in France and overseas have deeply disturbed the nation. They have mixed legitimate demands with a series of unacceptable acts of violence and I want to tell you right away that we will not indulge these acts of violence. We have all seen the game of opportunists who have tried to take advantage of sincere anger to lead them elsewhere. We have all seen the irresponsible, politically inclined people whose only plan was to shake up the Republic, seeking disorder and anarchy. There is no anger that can justify attacking a police officer, a gendarme, a business or public building. Our freedom exists only because everyone can express their opinions, because others can share them without anyone having to be afraid of disagreements. When violence breaks out, freedom ceases. It is therefore now time for calm and republican order to prevail. We will do everything in our power to do so, because nothing sustainable can be built as long as we fear for civil peace. I have given the government the most rigorous instructions in this regard. But at the beginning of all this, I know that there is anger, indignation, and this indignation, many of us, many French people, share it and I do not want to reduce it to the unacceptable behaviour that I have just denounced. It was first an anger against a tax and the Prime Minister responded by cancelling and removing all the increases planned for early next year, but this anger is deeper, I feel it is good in many ways. This can be our chance. It is the anger of the couple, both employees who can’t make ends meet, who get up early every day and come back late at night to go work far from home. It is that of a single mother, widowed or divorced, who no longer enjoys life, who cannot afford childcare and make ends meet and no longer has any hope. I saw them, these women of courage for the first time shouting their distress on so many roundabouts. It is that of modest retirees who have contributed their entire lives, who often help both parents and children and do not make it out winners. It is the anger of the most vulnerable, of people with disabilities whose place in society is not yet sufficiently recognized. Their distress is not new, but we had finally gotten used to it and deep down, everything was happening as if they were forgotten, erased. Forty years of unease have resurfaced: the unease of workers who no longer have a place; the unease of territories, villages and neighbourhoods where public services are lessened and the living environment is deteriorating; the democratic unease where the feeling of not being heard is developing; the unease of changes in our society, of a shaken secularism and of lifestyles that create barriers and distance. It comes from far back, but it's here now. We have probably not been able to provide a sufficiently rapid and strong response for a year and a half. I am partly responsible for this. I may have given you the feeling that it was not my concern, that I had other priorities. I also know that I have hurt some of you with my words. I want to be very clear with you tonight. If I have fought to shake up the political system in place, the habits, the hypocrisies, it is precisely because I believe more than anything in our country which I love. My legitimacy, I do not take it from any title, any party, any coterie; I only take it from you, from anyone else. Many other countries are going through this evil life of ours, but I deeply believe that we can find a way out of it together. I want this for France because it is our vocation throughout history to open up paths that have never been explored for ourselves and for the world. I want this for all of us French people because a people that is so divided, that no longer respects its laws and the friendship that must unite it, is a people that is running to its death. I also want it because it was because I anticipated this crisis that I ran for office to reconcile and lead, and I have not forgotten this commitment and this necessity. First, I want to declare a state of economic and social emergency today. (more to come)