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Will the protest resume its vigor before the holidays? On the eve of the ninth Saturday of mobilization of "yellow vests", which Paris and Bourges could be the epicenters, authorities fear a mobilization " stronger " than the previous week and " more radical ".
Act VIII and its 50,000 demonstrators counted by the Interior had already sounded the awakening of the movement, after the trough of the holidays, and despite the beginning of Tuesday the great debate launched by the executive to try to get out of the crisis that lasts for almost two months.
The boss of the national police, Eric Morvan, anticipates " we can return to a level of mobilization that is before the Christmas ." On December 15, the movement had gathered 66,000 people throughout France, according to official figures regularly challenged by the "yellow vests". In Paris, the prefect of police Michel Delpuech expects him to " more radical ": " We see week after week a drift towards more and more violent behavior ."
The rallies of January 5 had been peppered with violence, between the intrusion of protesters in the ministry of Benjamin Griveaux with a construction machine and images of the former boxer Christophe Dettinger hitting gendarmes on a bridge over the Seine.
The executive therefore provides a massive security device, which returns to its level of mid-December: 80,000 police and gendarmes should be mobilized Saturday in the Hexagon, including 5,000 in Paris. The capital will also see the return of wheeled armored vehicles (VBRG) in its streets, rarely used in metropolitan France for the maintenance of order.
" Those who call events Saturday know that there will be violence and so they have their share of responsibility. That things are clear, "said Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, interviewed on Facebook by Brut, a media acclaimed by the" yellow vests ".
After Solidaires, the only union to call to join the processions, the party of extreme right of Florian Philippot, Les Patriotes, also calls for a " peaceful mobilization ".
We have broader claims than those worn by yellow vests (...) We have claims that do not oppose but add
Frédéric Bodin National Secretary of Union Syndicale Solidaires 11/01/2019 - by RFI Play
In Paris, a call to protest, whose real place will probably be unveiled at the last moment, was launched by Eric Drouet, initiator of the movement. Nearly two months after the beginning of the mobilization, whose violent images have marked internationally, the consequences for tourism are already felt in the capital. The number of international air arrivals in Paris fell from 5% to 10% in December, according to Atout France, the agency promoting French tourism abroad.
Saturday, a second large-scale action is announced in Bourges (Cher),
Without waiting, the prefect of the Cher has prohibited by order any gathering in the historic center of the city. Time stamps and street furniture were dismantled, museums, gardens and public buildings will be closed on Saturday. The inhabitants are " worried ", according to Mayor Pascal Blanc.
It is the unknown that causes anxiety (...) we must both protect the protesters and our citizens and public goods (...) The City Hall will be closed, the town halls also, and museums and libraries (...)
Pascal Blanc Mayor of Bourges 11/01/2019 - by RFI Play
Other events are planned in Bordeaux, Marseille, Toulouse, Lyon, Strasbourg, Lille, Nantes, Rennes, Nîmes, Bar-le-Duc, or in Saint-Brieuc.
The safe management of this act IX will be crucial before the opening of the grand debate , promised by the executive to bring out claims. " I want a real debate. This is not a debate of which we know the terms and the outcome, "assured the President of the Republic Friday announcing that he would publish Monday his letter to the French.
► "Yellow vests" are exported internationally
The movement of " yellow vests " continues to be exported abroad: after pro-Brexit demonstrations close to the extreme right, a left anti-austerity movement, People's Assembly, calls for a national demonstration Saturday in London. Activists are invited to come wearing a yellow vest . One of the movement's spokesmen, John Rees, sees similarities between their claims.
" The French" yellow vests "are trying to reverse the effects of neoliberal policies, it is a movement that revolts against the degradation of living standards and cuts in social assistance. In the Western industrial economies, there are attacks against the living conditions of the workers, aid is reduced, real wages fall, the unions have lost power. As soon as we saw the French movement, we called to protest, we think it is a natural alliance and we welcome two French "yellow vests". It is not just a British problem or a French problem: it is an international problem, will workers continue to suffer from neoliberal policies and austerity? "