Paris police fire tear gas at oil giant protesters
Paris police on Friday fired tear gas to disperse climate protesters trying to block an annual general meeting of French oil giant TotalEnergies. After giving three warnings on loudhailers, officers used tear gas on the activists, who sat on the road outside the meeting venue in an upscale Paris district, in a bid to stop people entering. Dozens of protesters had converged around the Salle Pleyel venue from dawn, in a protest called by a coalition of non-governmental organisations. They chanted slogans such as "All we want is to knock down Total" and "One, two and three degrees, we have Total to thank." Similar protests have taken place at recent meetings of other oil giants, such as BP and Shell. Oil majors BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron and TotalEnergies have together posted profits of more than US$40 billion in this quarter. (AFP)