A giant “Tax the Rich” banner deployed by Attac activists from the top of the facade of the future Vuitton hotel on the Champs-Elysées, in Paris, February 24, 2024 (AFP/Dimitar DILKOFF)
Attac carried out a perilous action on Saturday targeting LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, by deploying a giant “Tax the Rich” banner from the top of the facade of the future Vuitton hotel on the Champs-Elysées in Paris.
This action inaugurated the “Super-profits, ultra-rich, mega-injustices” campaign launched by the association which campaigns for fiscal, social and ecological justice.
An Attac activist in front of the banner displayed on the facade of the future Vuitton hotel in Paris, February 24, 2024 (AFP/Dimitar DILKOFF)
This time, it expressly targeted Bernard Arnault, ranked the richest man in the world last year by Forbes, to “denounce his indecent enrichment and the gifts given to him by the public authorities”, explained a member of Attac to the AFP.
The activists were evacuated from the roof around 8:30 p.m., in complete calm.
Equipped with construction helmets and harnesses, they had managed to enter the scaffolding, hidden by a luxurious metal structure representing a giant, silver-colored Vuitton trunk with the lock in relief.
The hotel, which adjoins the brand’s flagship store, is scheduled to open in 2026.
Despite the wind, they were able, in about half an hour, to deploy all the letters TAXRICH on different banners, and another where the word “the” and the Attac logo appeared, to compose the final slogan.
Attac activists in front of the banner displayed on the facade of the future Vuitton hotel in Paris, February 24, 2024 (AFP/Dimitar DILKOFF)
During this time, several dozen activists from Attac and other associations – 350.org, Droit au logement, Solidaires Finances Publiques – demonstrated peacefully on the sidewalk opposite, taking up slogans like “Bernard, we wants your billions” or “There is money in the employers’ coffers”.
They were calmly escorted back to the metro by the police, while several dozen Brav-M police officers, who arrived on their motorcycles, and several police vans waited for the activists who remained on the roof.
– “Directly in the law” –
Attac explains that it wants to make “a fair contribution to the ultra-rich and multinationals and to finance ecological and social emergencies”.
For its new campaign, it is formulating various proposals likely to release “60 billion euros for ecological and social emergencies”, spokesperson Lou Chesné explained to AFP.
These concern a modification of the corporate tax to make it apply to all of the taxpayer’s assets, or a renovated wealth tax, as well as a reform of gift and inheritance taxes.
Police officers in front of the banner deployed by Attac on the facade of the future Vuitton hotel in Paris, February 24, 2024 (AFP/Dimitar DILKOFF)
“All these measures can be integrated directly into the Finance Law for 2025,” underlines Lou Chesné.
The association currently deplores the government’s plan to reduce public spending by a minimum of 12 billion euros in 2025, “affecting social and state spending”, especially as 10 billion will be added. savings in 2024, announced last Sunday by the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire.
Attac noted that its action on Saturday had not resulted in “any lasting degradation”.
On Saturday morning, the slogan not to resort to violence had in fact been firmly passed on to the future climbers, who had prepared meticulously for this technically complicated action on a discreet industrial site in the suburbs.
Everyone seemed to fully assume the legal risk incurred by unauthorized entry onto a private site.
“I regret that we risk years in prison for symbolic actions,” “Remrem”, 32, who works in events, explained to AFP.
“In view of the predictable impact” of the action, he nevertheless considered that the game was worth it.
Serge, 39, who presents himself as a researcher at the CNRS, said he was used to heights after having already filmed for Attac, lying on a roof, an action targeting TotalEnergies. It is “important to demand taxes on the rich”, he judged, denouncing “the ongoing climate catastrophe due to the desire to enrich a minority”.
Police officers around demonstrators after Attac activists unfurled a giant “Tax the Rich” banner from the top of the facade of the future Vuitton hotel on the Champs-Elysées, on February 24, 2024 in Paris ( AFP/Dimitar DILKOFF)
Last year, Attac distinguished itself in the ecological field, with other organizations such as Extinction Rebellion or Alternatiba, by targeting private jets through actions at airports.
The movement also launched the spring potluck concerts against pension reform.
© 2024 AFP
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