![\"\"](\"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/c00718f4-d632-45b0-bc20-379c415610c5.jpg\")
About 200 left-wing activists have staged a \u201cyellow vest\u201d protest in Belfast city center.<\/p>\nAbout 200 left-wing activists have staged a \u201cyellow vest\u201d protest in Belfast city center.<\/p>\n
The campaigners gathered outside City Hall to demand an end to austerity policies and action on a range of social issues in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
A numbers of speakers addressed the crowd calling for a halt to public-sector cuts, the abolition of zero-hour contracts and a reversal of contentious changes to the welfare and benefits system.<\/p>\n
Demonstrators also demanded reform of the region\u2019s restrictive laws on abortion and an end to its ban on same-sex marriage. There were also calls for full legalization of medical cannabis.<\/p>\n
The yellow vest movement originated in France amid public anger at fuel tax increases.<\/p>\n
It is named after the high-visibility vests \u2013 gilets jaunes \u2013 that motorists in France must keep in their cars.<\/p>\n
The movement subsequently widened into an expression of broader anti-establishment sentiment in both France and elsewhere in Europe.<\/p>\n
It now encompasses a diverse and often competing range of political views, with both left and right wing voices having adopted the vests as their symbol of protest.<\/p>\n
Some have used the yellow-vest demonstrations to advocate far-right anti-immigration and anti-Islam messages.<\/p>\n
People Before Profit Stormont Assembly member Gerry Carroll, who attended Saturday\u2019s event in Belfast, insisted the left could not allow the far-right to hijack the movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday is a protest in solidarity with the yellow vest protest that exploded a few weeks ago on the streets of France,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday is in solidarity with that spirit of saying ordinary people here in Belfast and further afield stand together and get out on the streets and campaign for a range of issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
The West Belfast representative added: \u201cThe yellow vest movement started off as a mass movement of working people. Is it true the far-right are trying to hijack it? Yes. Should they be allowed to? No.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf people just say the right are trying to organize, let them have it \u2013 then you are conceding the ground of discontent and anger to the far right, which is very, very dangerous and history shows where that leads to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Yellow Vest protestors have staged another demonstration in Dublin calling for the resignation of the Taoiseach.<\/p>\n
The protest at the Custom House marks the fifth weekend in a row that anti-government demonstrators have taken to the street.<\/p>\n
The action, sparked by similar demonstrations in France, has been repeated in Belfast and Wexford, where protests have also taken place.<\/p>\n