(THE CONVERSATION) Protesters wearing reflective safety vests have unsettled France for months, halting traffic, chanting slogans and at times clashing violently with police.

Promises by President Emmanuel Macron to raise worker pay and cut taxes have not quelled the French demonstrators’ anger, which was originally triggered in December by a proposed fuel tax hike. Nor has the cold of Paris in winter chilled their outrage.

Beyond voicing the economic concerns of the French working class, their demands now include everything from Macron’s ouster to the abolition of the French Senate.

This powerful movement appears to be spreading. Protesters in Iraq, Bulgaria, Israel, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and other countries have taken to the streets in reflective yellow vests, too.

Activists in these countries say that they sympathize with the French protesters and are inspired by their powerful grassroots movement.

But appearances can be deceiving. France’s signature yellow vests may have been adopted by protesters elsewhere – but that’s where the similarities stop.

Our academic research on protests indicates that France’s yellow vest demonstrations have probably not inspired the recent unrest abroad.

For one, many of the so-called yellow vests protests abroad are not actually new. Bulgaria’s gas protests began on Nov. 11, a week prior to the yellow vest protests in France. Activists only donned yellow vests in December, after French protesters shut down Paris with their marches.

In Iraq, protests against unemployment, corruption and poor public services date back many months. Iraqi protesters, too, began wearing yellow vests in December after the French protests became iconic.

The same is true of the yellow vest protests in Taiwan.

Furthermore, many of these yellow vest protests make demands that are very different from that of their French counterparts.

In the United Kingdom, everyone from pro-Brexit groups to anti-austerity organizations have sported yellow vests at their protests. So have far-right, anti-Muslim protesters in Germany.

What has spread beyond France aren’t its working-class protests, exactly, but the props of those marches: Those iconic traffic vests have become a symbol of discontent.

Their original meaning, however, has largely been lost. In France, all vehicles must carry yellow vests in case of traffic emergency. That’s why workers angry about fuel hikes decided to wear them to marches.

We found that it is exceedingly rare for protests in one country to actually trigger unrest in another country.

When we analyzed 282 pro-democracy protests in 87 countries between 1989 and 2011, we found that 236 protests occurred in isolation, with no unrest in contiguous countries in the following days, weeks or months. That means 84 percent of protests did not spread.

Protests – especially in the era of social media – might inspire activists in other countries. But they do not fundamentally change the domestic conditions that, history shows, generate protests: domestic discontent over economic problems, fraudulent elections, food prices or other triggers.

But the eruption of pro-democracy protests in one country does not make it more likely that pro-democracy protests will occur in a nearby country, according to our research. Between 1989 and 2011, just 24 of 282 protests in countries with contiguous neighbors saw similar demonstrations breaking out nearby within 45 days.

This conclusion remains even when we tested various scenarios, such as whether protests were more likely to spread they occur in large countries, or in militarily and economically powerful ones, or when countries were well connected to the internet. Nor were demonstrations more likely to spread if they were larger or more peaceful, or better able to wrestle concessions from the government.

We tested our models using other kinds of protests, too, including anti-government protests like the yellow vests. They just don’t spread, either.

Our findings contradict the common wisdom that protests are contagious.

This view is based primarily on four historical periods where numerous anti-regime protests occurred in short succession.

The Arab Spring is the most recent example. After an uprising in Tunisia in 2010, governments across the Middle East and North Africa soon saw mass protests. Several authoritarian leaders were ousted.

Similar outbreaks of protest have occurred over the past 150 years.

In 1848, anti-monarchy uprisings that started in Sicily occurred across continental Europe. In 1989, protests helped topple communist regimes throughout East Central Europe. In the early 2000s, the so-called “Color Revolutions” gripped the region again, this time in response to fraudulent elections.

When protests occur in quick succession in a number of countries like this, it gives the appearance that they are spreading. In fact, protests may break out in clusters because countries are similarly affected by common world events, such as increases in fuel prices, the collapse of international banks or the end of the Cold War.

In other words, activists in one country are not emulating one another – they are reacting to the same societal problems.

In recent months, for example, Burkina Faso, Sudan and Zimbabwe have all seen demonstrations against fuel hikes, high food prices and generalized economic insecurity – the same issue that first angered French workers. But none of these marches include yellow vests.

So why have activists everywhere from Iraq to Israel adopted the yellow vest motif?

Shared symbolism has power. When demonstrators in one place don French-style yellow vests, it makes their protests appear to be part of a larger movement. This attracts more attention from the media, which, in turn, fuels the perception that protests are spreading.

Explaining why the Iraqi yellow vest protests appropriated the French symbol, one organizer told NBC News simply, “We thought that we would be more organized if we wear these vests.”

Egypt even banned the sale of yellow vests prior to the anniversary of its Jan. 28, 2011, Tahrir Square uprising.

Meanwhile, some yellow vest protesters in France who reject the movement’s increasing radicalism are organizing their own anti-government protests. Their new movement has a symbol, too: red scarves.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/yellow-vest-protests-erupt-in-iraq-bulgaria-and-beyond-but-dont-expect-a-yellow-wave-110692.</s>PARIS (AP) — France's yellow vest protest movement joined ranks Tuesday with a major union, a first for both, in a day of nationwide protests over taxes and buying power that brought tens of thousands into the streets.

Brief scuffles marked the mostly calm Paris demonstration. Police fired several rounds of tear gas, clearing troublemakers from the Place de la Concorde, which borders the U.S. Embassy.

Tear gas was also used in Lille and elsewhere. However, tension was minimal compared with the weekly protests held since mid-November by the yellow vest movement to demand fiscal and social justice in a major challenge to President Emmanuel Macron.

As protesters marched, lawmakers in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, voted 387-92 to pass a bill aimed at preventing violence during protests, and helping authorities maintain order. The bill would, for instance, authorize regional prefects to prevent people seen as a serious threat to public order from protesting, or force protesters involved in violence to pay for damage.

The bill, which must go before the Senate, would also make it a crime for protesters to conceal their faces — a common occurrence during Saturday protests by the yellow vest movement, by both those trying to offset the effects of tear gas and by troublemakers concealing their identities.

Meanwhile, the Communist-backed CGT union marched from Paris City Hall to the Place de la Concorde side-by-side with protesters from the yellow vest movement, which takes its name from the safety vests they wear that are required in all cars.

Union chief Philippe Martinez cheered the hand-in-hand protests with the yellow vests, promising daily initiatives and "something big" each Tuesday. He noted overlapping demands between his union and yellow vest protesters.

"There's no reason why we shouldn't demonstrate next to each other or one behind another. What's important is that our first day together is a success, in the middle of the week," he said.

"I find business leaders have it easy and it's time we hold big company bosses in this country accountable," Martinez said.

The grassroots yellow vest movement has no anointed leader and an array of demands. However, increasing buying power and ending what they perceive as favoritism toward the powerful at the expense of the less fortunate are leading demands.

Alex Turnbull and Sylvie Corbet contributed to this report.</s>PARIS (AP) — France's yellow vest protest movement joined ranks Tuesday with a major union, a first for both, in a day of nationwide protests over taxes and buying power that brought tens of thousands into the streets.

Brief scuffles marked the mostly calm Paris demonstration. Police fired several rounds of tear gas, clearing troublemakers from the Place de la Concorde, which borders the U.S. Embassy.

Tear gas was also used in Lille and elsewhere. However, tension was minimal compared with the weekly protests held since mid-November by the yellow vest movement to demand fiscal and social justice in a major challenge to President Emmanuel Macron.

As protesters marched, lawmakers in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, voted 387-92 to pass a bill aimed at preventing violence during protests, and helping authorities maintain order. The bill would, for instance, authorize regional prefects to prevent people seen as a serious threat to public order from protesting, or force protesters involved in violence to pay for damage.

The bill, which must go before the Senate, would also make it a crime for protesters to conceal their faces — a common occurrence during Saturday protests by the yellow vest movement, by both those trying to offset the effects of tear gas and by troublemakers concealing their identities.

Meanwhile, the Communist-backed CGT union marched from Paris City Hall to the Place de la Concorde side-by-side with protesters from the yellow vest movement, which takes its name from the safety vests they wear that are required in all cars.

Union chief Philippe Martinez cheered the hand-in-hand protests with the yellow vests, promising daily initiatives and "something big" each Tuesday. He noted overlapping demands between his union and yellow vest protesters.

"There's no reason why we shouldn't demonstrate next to each other or one behind another. What's important is that our first day together is a success, in the middle of the week," he said.

"I find business leaders have it easy and it's time we hold big company bosses in this country accountable," Martinez said.

The grassroots yellow vest movement has no anointed leader and an array of demands. However, increasing buying power and ending what they perceive as favoritism toward the powerful at the expense of the less fortunate are leading demands.

Alex Turnbull and Sylvie Corbet contributed to this report.</s>France's yellow vest protest movement joined ranks with a major union, a first for both, in a day of nationwide protests over taxes and buying power that brought tens of thousands into the streets. Brief scuffles marked the mostly calm Paris demonstration on February 5.

Police fired several rounds of tear gas, clearing troublemakers from the Place de la Concorde, which borders the US Embassy.

Tear gas was also used in Lille and elsewhere.

However, tension was minimal compared with the weekly protests held since mid-November by the yellow vest movement to demand fiscal and social justice in a major challenge to President Emmanuel Macron.

As protesters marched, lawmakers in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, voted 387-92 to pass a bill aimed at preventing violence during protests, and helping authorities maintain order.

The bill would, for instance, authorize regional prefects to prevent people seen as a serious threat to public order from protesting, or force protesters involved in violence to pay for damage.

The bill, which must go before the Senate, would also make it a crime for protesters to conceal their faces — a common occurrence during Saturday protests by the yellow vest movement, by both those trying to offset the effects of tear gas and by troublemakers concealing their identities.

Meanwhile, the Communist-backed CGT union marched from Paris City Hall to the Place de la Concorde side-by-side with protesters from the yellow vest movement, which takes its name from the safety vests they wear that are required in all cars.

Union chief Philippe Martinez cheered the hand-in-hand protests with the yellow vests, promising daily initiatives and "something big" each Tuesday.

He noted overlapping demands between his union and yellow vest protesters. "There's no reason why we shouldn't demonstrate next to each other or one behind another.

What's important is that our first day together is a success, in the middle of the week," he said.

"I find business leaders have it easy and it's time we hold big company bosses in this country accountable," Martinez said.

The grassroots yellow vest movement has no anointed leader and an array of demands.

However, increasing buying power and ending what they perceive as favoritism toward the powerful at the expense of the less fortunate are leading demands.</s>PARIS (AP) — France's yellow vest protest movement joined ranks Tuesday with a major union, a first for both, in a day of nationwide protests over taxes and buying power that brought tens of thousands into the streets.

Brief scuffles marked the mostly calm Paris demonstration. Police fired several rounds of tear gas, clearing troublemakers from the Place de la Concorde, which borders the U.S. Embassy.

Tear gas was also used in Lille and elsewhere. However, tension was minimal compared with the weekly protests held since mid-November by the yellow vest movement to demand fiscal and social justice in a major challenge to President Emmanuel Macron.

As protesters marched, lawmakers in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, voted 387-92 to pass a bill aimed at preventing violence during protests, and helping authorities maintain order. The bill would, for instance, authorize regional prefects to prevent people seen as a serious threat to public order from protesting, or force protesters involved in violence to pay for damage.

The bill, which must go before the Senate, would also make it a crime for protesters to conceal their faces — a common occurrence during Saturday protests by the yellow vest movement, by both those trying to offset the effects of tear gas and by troublemakers concealing their identities.

Meanwhile, the Communist-backed CGT union marched from Paris City Hall to the Place de la Concorde side-by-side with protesters from the yellow vest movement, which takes its name from the safety vests they wear that are required in all cars.

Union chief Philippe Martinez cheered the hand-in-hand protests with the yellow vests, promising daily initiatives and "something big" each Tuesday. He noted overlapping demands between his union and yellow vest protesters.

"There's no reason why we shouldn't demonstrate next to each other or one behind another. What's important is that our first day together is a success, in the middle of the week," he said.

"I find business leaders have it easy and it's time we hold big company bosses in this country accountable," Martinez said.

The grassroots yellow vest movement has no anointed leader and an array of demands. However, increasing buying power and ending what they perceive as favoritism toward the powerful at the expense of the less fortunate are leading demands.

Alex Turnbull and Sylvie Corbet contributed to this report.</s>PARIS (AP) — France's yellow vest protest movement joined ranks Tuesday with a major union, a first for both, in a day of nationwide protests over taxes and buying power that brought tens of thousands into the streets.

Brief scuffles marked the mostly calm Paris demonstration. Police fired several rounds of tear gas, clearing troublemakers from the Place de la Concorde, which borders the U.S. Embassy.

Tear gas was also used in Lille and elsewhere. However, tension was minimal compared with the weekly protests held since mid-November by the yellow vest movement to demand fiscal and social justice in a major challenge to President Emmanuel Macron.

As protesters marched, lawmakers in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, voted 387-92 to pass a bill aimed at preventing violence during protests, and helping authorities maintain order. The bill would, for instance, authorize regional prefects to prevent people seen as a serious threat to public order from protesting, or force protesters involved in violence to pay for damage.

The bill, which must go before the Senate, would also make it a crime for protesters to conceal their faces — a common occurrence during Saturday protests by the yellow vest movement, by both those trying to offset the effects of tear gas and by troublemakers concealing their identities.

Meanwhile, the Communist-backed CGT union marched from Paris City Hall to the Place de la Concorde side-by-side with protesters from the yellow vest movement, which takes its name from the safety vests they wear that are required in all cars.

Union chief Philippe Martinez cheered the hand-in-hand protests with the yellow vests, promising daily initiatives and "something big" each Tuesday. He noted overlapping demands between his union and yellow vest protesters.

"There's no reason why we shouldn't demonstrate next to each other or one behind another. What's important is that our first day together is a success, in the middle of the week," he said.

"I find business leaders have it easy and it's time we hold big company bosses in this country accountable," Martinez said.

The grassroots yellow vest movement has no anointed leader and an array of demands. However, increasing buying power and ending what they perceive as favoritism toward the powerful at the expense of the less fortunate are leading demands.

Alex Turnbull and Sylvie Corbet contributed to this report.</s>Yellow vest protests erupt in Iraq, Bulgaria and beyond – but don't expect a 'yellow wave'

(THE CONVERSATION) Protesters wearing reflective safety vests have unsettled France for months, halting traffic, chanting slogans and at times clashing violently with police.

Promises by President Emmanuel Macron to raise worker pay and cut taxes have not quelled the French demonstrators’ anger, which was originally triggered in December by a proposed fuel tax hike. Nor has the cold of Paris in winter chilled their outrage.

Beyond voicing the economic concerns of the French working class, their demands now include everything from Macron’s ouster to the abolition of the French Senate.

This powerful movement appears to be spreading. Protesters in Iraq, Bulgaria, Israel, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and other countries have taken to the streets in reflective yellow vests, too.

Activists in these countries say that they sympathize with the French protesters and are inspired by their powerful grassroots movement.

But appearances can be deceiving. France’s signature yellow vests may have been adopted by protesters elsewhere – but that’s where the similarities stop.

Our academic research on protests indicates that France’s yellow vest demonstrations have probably not inspired the recent unrest abroad.

For one, many of the so-called yellow vests protests abroad are not actually new. Bulgaria’s gas protests began on Nov. 11, a week prior to the yellow vest protests in France. Activists only donned yellow vests in December, after French protesters shut down Paris with their marches.

In Iraq, protests against unemployment, corruption and poor public services date back many months. Iraqi protesters, too, began wearing yellow vests in December after the French protests became iconic.

The same is true of the yellow vest protests in Taiwan.

Furthermore, many of these yellow vest protests make demands that are very different from that of their French counterparts.

In the United Kingdom, everyone from pro-Brexit groups to anti-austerity organizations have sported yellow vests at their protests. So have far-right, anti-Muslim protesters in Germany.

What has spread beyond France aren’t its working-class protests, exactly, but the props of those marches: Those iconic traffic vests have become a symbol of discontent.

Their original meaning, however, has largely been lost. In France, all vehicles must carry yellow vests in case of traffic emergency. That’s why workers angry about fuel hikes decided to wear them to marches.

We found that it is exceedingly rare for protests in one country to actually trigger unrest in another country.

When we analyzed 282 pro-democracy protests in 87 countries between 1989 and 2011, we found that 236 protests occurred in isolation, with no unrest in contiguous countries in the following days, weeks or months. That means 84 percent of protests did not spread.

Protests – especially in the era of social media – might inspire activists in other countries. But they do not fundamentally change the domestic conditions that, history shows, generate protests: domestic discontent over economic problems, fraudulent elections, food prices or other triggers.

But the eruption of pro-democracy protests in one country does not make it more likely that pro-democracy protests will occur in a nearby country, according to our research. Between 1989 and 2011, just 24 of 282 protests in countries with contiguous neighbors saw similar demonstrations breaking out nearby within 45 days.

This conclusion remains even when we tested various scenarios, such as whether protests were more likely to spread they occur in large countries, or in militarily and economically powerful ones, or when countries were well connected to the internet. Nor were demonstrations more likely to spread if they were larger or more peaceful, or better able to wrestle concessions from the government.

We tested our models using other kinds of protests, too, including anti-government protests like the yellow vests. They just don’t spread, either.

Our findings contradict the common wisdom that protests are contagious.

This view is based primarily on four historical periods where numerous anti-regime protests occurred in short succession.

The Arab Spring is the most recent example. After an uprising in Tunisia in 2010, governments across the Middle East and North Africa soon saw mass protests. Several authoritarian leaders were ousted.

Similar outbreaks of protest have occurred over the past 150 years.

In 1848, anti-monarchy uprisings that started in Sicily occurred across continental Europe. In 1989, protests helped topple communist regimes throughout East Central Europe. In the early 2000s, the so-called “Color Revolutions” gripped the region again, this time in response to fraudulent elections.

When protests occur in quick succession in a number of countries like this, it gives the appearance that they are spreading. In fact, protests may break out in clusters because countries are similarly affected by common world events, such as increases in fuel prices, the collapse of international banks or the end of the Cold War.

In other words, activists in one country are not emulating one another – they are reacting to the same societal problems.

In recent months, for example, Burkina Faso, Sudan and Zimbabwe have all seen demonstrations against fuel hikes, high food prices and generalized economic insecurity – the same issue that first angered French workers. But none of these marches include yellow vests.

So why have activists everywhere from Iraq to Israel adopted the yellow vest motif?

Shared symbolism has power. When demonstrators in one place don French-style yellow vests, it makes their protests appear to be part of a larger movement. This attracts more attention from the media, which, in turn, fuels the perception that protests are spreading.

Explaining why the Iraqi yellow vest protests appropriated the French symbol, one organizer told NBC News simply, “We thought that we would be more organized if we wear these vests.”

Egypt even banned the sale of yellow vests prior to the anniversary of its Jan. 28, 2011, Tahrir Square uprising.

Meanwhile, some yellow vest protesters in France who reject the movement’s increasing radicalism are organizing their own anti-government protests. Their new movement has a symbol, too: red scarves.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/yellow-vest-protests-erupt-in-iraq-bulgaria-and-beyond-but-dont-expect-a-yellow-wave-110692.</s>PARIS (AP) — France's yellow vest protest movement joined ranks Tuesday with a major union, a first for both, in a day of nationwide protests over taxes and buying power that brought tens of thousands into the streets.

Brief scuffles marked the mostly calm Paris demonstration. Police fired several rounds of tear gas, clearing troublemakers from the Place de la Concorde, which borders the U.S. Embassy.

Tear gas was also used in Lille and elsewhere. However, tension was minimal compared with the weekly protests held since mid-November by the yellow vest movement to demand fiscal and social justice in a major challenge to President Emmanuel Macron.

As protesters marched, lawmakers in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, voted 387-92 to pass a bill aimed at preventing violence during protests, and helping authorities maintain order. The bill would, for instance, authorize regional prefects to prevent people seen as a serious threat to public order from protesting, or force protesters involved in violence to pay for damage.

The bill, which must go before the Senate, would also make it a crime for protesters to conceal their faces — a common occurrence during Saturday protests by the yellow vest movement, by both those trying to offset the effects of tear gas and by troublemakers concealing their identities.

Meanwhile, the Communist-backed CGT union marched from Paris City Hall to the Place de la Concorde side-by-side with protesters from the yellow vest movement, which takes its name from the safety vests they wear that are required in all cars.

Union chief Philippe Martinez cheered the hand-in-hand protests with the yellow vests, promising daily initiatives and "something big" each Tuesday. He noted overlapping demands between his union and yellow vest protesters.

"There's no reason why we shouldn't demonstrate next to each other or one behind another. What's important is that our first day together is a success, in the middle of the week," he said.

"I find business leaders have it easy and it's time we hold big company bosses in this country accountable," Martinez said.

The grassroots yellow vest movement has no anointed leader and an array of demands. However, increasing buying power and ending what they perceive as favoritism toward the powerful at the expense of the less fortunate are leading demands.

Alex Turnbull and Sylvie Corbet contributed to this report.</s>Yellow vest protests erupt in Iraq, Bulgaria and beyond – but don't expect a 'yellow wave'

(THE CONVERSATION) Protesters wearing reflective safety vests have unsettled France for months, halting traffic, chanting slogans and at times clashing violently with police.

Promises by President Emmanuel Macron to raise worker pay and cut taxes have not quelled the French demonstrators’ anger, which was originally triggered in December by a proposed fuel tax hike. Nor has the cold of Paris in winter chilled their outrage.

Beyond voicing the economic concerns of the French working class, their demands now include everything from Macron’s ouster to the abolition of the French Senate.

This powerful movement appears to be spreading. Protesters in Iraq, Bulgaria, Israel, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and other countries have taken to the streets in reflective yellow vests, too.

Activists in these countries say that they sympathize with the French protesters and are inspired by their powerful grassroots movement.

But appearances can be deceiving. France’s signature yellow vests may have been adopted by protesters elsewhere – but that’s where the similarities stop.

Our academic research on protests indicates that France’s yellow vest demonstrations have probably not inspired the recent unrest abroad.

For one, many of the so-called yellow vests protests abroad are not actually new. Bulgaria’s gas protests began on Nov. 11, a week prior to the yellow vest protests in France. Activists only donned yellow vests in December, after French protesters shut down Paris with their marches.

In Iraq, protests against unemployment, corruption and poor public services date back many months. Iraqi protesters, too, began wearing yellow vests in December after the French protests became iconic.

The same is true of the yellow vest protests in Taiwan.

Furthermore, many of these yellow vest protests make demands that are very different from that of their French counterparts.

In the United Kingdom, everyone from pro-Brexit groups to anti-austerity organizations have sported yellow vests at their protests. So have far-right, anti-Muslim protesters in Germany.

What has spread beyond France aren’t its working-class protests, exactly, but the props of those marches: Those iconic traffic vests have become a symbol of discontent.

Their original meaning, however, has largely been lost. In France, all vehicles must carry yellow vests in case of traffic emergency. That’s why workers angry about fuel hikes decided to wear them to marches.

We found that it is exceedingly rare for protests in one country to actually trigger unrest in another country.

When we analyzed 282 pro-democracy protests in 87 countries between 1989 and 2011, we found that 236 protests occurred in isolation, with no unrest in contiguous countries in the following days, weeks or months. That means 84 percent of protests did not spread.

Protests – especially in the era of social media – might inspire activists in other countries. But they do not fundamentally change the domestic conditions that, history shows, generate protests: domestic discontent over economic problems, fraudulent elections, food prices or other triggers.

But the eruption of pro-democracy protests in one country does not make it more likely that pro-democracy protests will occur in a nearby country, according to our research. Between 1989 and 2011, just 24 of 282 protests in countries with contiguous neighbors saw similar demonstrations breaking out nearby within 45 days.

This conclusion remains even when we tested various scenarios, such as whether protests were more likely to spread they occur in large countries, or in militarily and economically powerful ones, or when countries were well connected to the internet. Nor were demonstrations more likely to spread if they were larger or more peaceful, or better able to wrestle concessions from the government.

We tested our models using other kinds of protests, too, including anti-government protests like the yellow vests. They just don’t spread, either.

Our findings contradict the common wisdom that protests are contagious.

This view is based primarily on four historical periods where numerous anti-regime protests occurred in short succession.

The Arab Spring is the most recent example. After an uprising in Tunisia in 2010, governments across the Middle East and North Africa soon saw mass protests. Several authoritarian leaders were ousted.

Similar outbreaks of protest have occurred over the past 150 years.

In 1848, anti-monarchy uprisings that started in Sicily occurred across continental Europe. In 1989, protests helped topple communist regimes throughout East Central Europe. In the early 2000s, the so-called “Color Revolutions” gripped the region again, this time in response to fraudulent elections.

When protests occur in quick succession in a number of countries like this, it gives the appearance that they are spreading. In fact, protests may break out in clusters because countries are similarly affected by common world events, such as increases in fuel prices, the collapse of international banks or the end of the Cold War.

In other words, activists in one country are not emulating one another – they are reacting to the same societal problems.

In recent months, for example, Burkina Faso, Sudan and Zimbabwe have all seen demonstrations against fuel hikes, high food prices and generalized economic insecurity – the same issue that first angered French workers. But none of these marches include yellow vests.

So why have activists everywhere from Iraq to Israel adopted the yellow vest motif?

Shared symbolism has power. When demonstrators in one place don French-style yellow vests, it makes their protests appear to be part of a larger movement. This attracts more attention from the media, which, in turn, fuels the perception that protests are spreading.

Explaining why the Iraqi yellow vest protests appropriated the French symbol, one organizer told NBC News simply, “We thought that we would be more organized if we wear these vests.”

Egypt even banned the sale of yellow vests prior to the anniversary of its Jan. 28, 2011, Tahrir Square uprising.

Meanwhile, some yellow vest protesters in France who reject the movement’s increasing radicalism are organizing their own anti-government protests. Their new movement has a symbol, too: red scarves.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/yellow-vest-protests-erupt-in-iraq-bulgaria-and-beyond-but-dont-expect-a-yellow-wave-110692.</s>PARIS (AP) — France's yellow vest protest movement joined ranks Tuesday with a major union, a first for both, in a day of nationwide protests over taxes and buying power that brought tens of thousands into the streets.

Brief scuffles marked the mostly calm Paris demonstration. Police fired several rounds of tear gas, clearing troublemakers from the Place de la Concorde, which borders the U.S. Embassy.

Tear gas was also used in Lille and elsewhere. However, tension was minimal compared with the weekly protests held since mid-November by the yellow vest movement to demand fiscal and social justice in a major challenge to President Emmanuel Macron.

As protesters marched, lawmakers in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, voted 387-92 to pass a bill aimed at preventing violence during protests, and helping authorities maintain order. The bill would, for instance, authorize regional prefects to prevent people seen as a serious threat to public order from protesting, or force protesters involved in violence to pay for damage.

The bill, which must go before the Senate, would also make it a crime for protesters to conceal their faces — a common occurrence during Saturday protests by the yellow vest movement, by both those trying to offset the effects of tear gas and by troublemakers concealing their identities.

Meanwhile, the Communist-backed CGT union marched from Paris City Hall to the Place de la Concorde side-by-side with protesters from the yellow vest movement, which takes its name from the safety vests they wear that are required in all cars.

Union chief Philippe Martinez cheered the hand-in-hand protests with the yellow vests, promising daily initiatives and "something big" each Tuesday. He noted overlapping demands between his union and yellow vest protesters.

"There's no reason why we shouldn't demonstrate next to each other or one behind another. What's important is that our first day together is a success, in the middle of the week," he said.

"I find business leaders have it easy and it's time we hold big company bosses in this country accountable," Martinez said.

The grassroots yellow vest movement has no anointed leader and an array of demands. However, increasing buying power and ending what they perceive as favoritism toward the powerful at the expense of the less fortunate are leading demands.

Alex Turnbull and Sylvie Corbet contributed to this report.
Nationwide protests organised by the French Confédération Générale du Travail union attract over 18,000 people in Paris, including many supporters of the Yellow vest movement.