Burning cars. A sea of yellow vests. The worst riots in Paris in years. How did protests about a carbon tax spin out into violence with several dead and hundreds injured? France has had a gas tax for decades. But in 2014, it put automatic tax increases in place to encourage people to move to less polluting vehicles, and public transportation. This incensed France’s working class in a country that already had some of the highest taxes in Europe. In May, a petition calling for a drop in gas prices started circulating online. But it went mostly unnoticed until October, when it was shared on Facebook and local newspapers started covering it. Then, it started to spread. First, in the suburbs and rural regions where people rely heavily on cars to get around. And then it moved to Paris and other French cities. Supporters were encouraged to display bright yellow vests on their car dashboards or back shelves. Soon, some were wearing the vests and they became a symbol of the protests. After three weekends of increasingly violent protests in Paris, Macron’s government suspended the fuel tax. But this hasn’t quieted things down. The fuel tax was just the last straw. It sparked anger about other problems for the working class, from the high cost of living to the overall level of taxes in France. There is no one list of demands in this leaderless movement. Some want to negotiate with the government. Others want Macron to resign altogether. And that’s one of the protesters’ main complaints: that Macron is an elitist who is out of touch with the needs of common citizens. Many are worried that Macron suspended the fuel tax only in response to the riots in Paris, and are concerned that this could incite more violence in future protests. Macron, who has been criticized for remaining silent, is expected to publicly address the protests next week.