Yellow Vests back on the street for act 15, hoping to stem the decline of their mobilisation for the last month, with rallies in Paris and throughout France.
The yellow vests are back on the streets this Saturday 23rd February for act 15, hoping to stem the decline of their mobilisation for the last month, with new gatherings in Paris and the provinces .
Since four consecutive weekends, the affluence decreases according to the Ministry of the Interior, whose figures are regularly disputed by the demonstrators.
The last Saturday had mobilised 41,000 people in France, against 282,000 during the first day of action on November 17th, the launch date of this unprecedented social protest movement.
Five events in Paris
In Paris , five demonstrations were declared, including three in the form of rallies, the police department said in a statement.
The two parades, baptised on Facebook “Yellow Tsunami” and “All Champs Elysees, we do not loose anything”, will leave at 12 midday and 1pm from the Arc de Triomphe and will disperse from 5pm instead of Trocadero .
This “walk in the beautiful neighborhoods” must especially descend the Champs Elysees, cross the Opera district, bypass the Louvre museum and take a break in front of the headquarters of Medef before joining the esplanade of Trocadero.
Nearly 4,000 people announced Friday evening their intention to participate in these gatherings, and more than 18,000 declared themselves “interested”, figures that do not presuppose the crowds on the street: last Saturday, 5000 “yellow vests” marched in the capital, according to the authorities.
The main figures of the movement announced their presence in different gathering places.
Eric Drouet announced Wednesday on YouTube that he would march Saturday in Paris, claiming to receive “many invitations” to “go to other cities on certain acts, as in Toulouse.”
On Facebook, Maxime Nicolle said he would participate in the rally in Rennes while Priscillia Ludosky will join the picnic organised in front of the Château de Chambord, a snub to Emmanuel Macron who celebrated his 40 years in late December 2017.
Bordeaux, Toulouse, Clermont-Ferrand, Rennes …
Other gatherings in the provinces are planned, especially in Bordeaux, which is with Toulouse one of the strongholds of mobilization, regular theatre of violent clashes with the police.
On Friday, the police unions in Bordeaux alerted their national hierarchy to the “critical” situation and the “moral and physical lassitude” of the police, calling for more effective means of fighting against “urban guerrilla warfare”.
“If some think that the police will be exhausted and they will be worn, they are wrong,” however assured the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner, during a trip to Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis ). “The police will be there and do their job,” he added.
Many of them, as well as gendarmes, will be mobilised in Clermont-Ferrand, where 3,000 people are expected, from all over the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
The entire city has barricaded itself: shops, parks and public buildings will be closed in the afternoon, while concerts and shows have been cancelled. All that can serve as projectiles has been removed (parking meters, garbage cans, public benches, etc.) for a total estimated cost of 300,000 euros.
Many protesters are also banned in Rennes, where the interregional rally of Brittany is to be held. The prefecture banned the demonstrations .
