• In Paris tension between yellow vests and black bloc, 167 stops
  • France: yellow vest and black bloc protests, marching for climate, 152 detentions
  • Saturday flops for yellow vests, a few thousand in the streets across France

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16 November 2019First riots in Paris in connection with the demonstrations of the yellow Vests, returned to the streets today on the first anniversary of their movement. A hundred protesters briefly invaded the capital's ring road shortly after 10 at the Porte de Champerret. The agents quickly intervened using tear gas to try to disperse the crowd. Other protesters were found near the Champs-Elysée and the Arc de Triomphe, areas forbidden to any demonstration. Dozens of subway stations have been closed to traffic, most of them in the center of the capital. Shortly after 10.30, the Paris police headquarters reported 16 arrests after more than 1,100 checks.

On their first 'birthday' the yellow vests try to revive the movement with 270 different types of events held throughout France, for this weekend, which celebrates the anniversary of their birth. Paris is the fulcrum and in view of the arrival of "several thousand" protesters, as the authorities have said, the police have ordered Ratp, the company that manages the metro of the capital, to close several metro stops and stations of regional trains.

Today's demonstrations, Saturday is the traditional day of protest for the yellow vests, and those of tomorrow, the exact date of the anniversary, want to be a direct message to the Elysee that the movement remains a force with which we must confront and also an opportunity for a revival. In recent months, the number of participants in the demonstrations and the level of violence have fallen sharply.

The movement had its start on November 17, 2018, with a protest that brought almost 300 thousand people to the streets in Paris. The authorities do not expect massive demonstrations, but there is an alert for the radical elements of the movement that could sow chaos, in the streets of the capital, despite the ban on demonstrating on the Champs-Elysees.

The Deputy Interior Minister, Laurent Nunez, wanted to warn that "more interest" has been recorded in the initiatives of the yellow vests than in the past weeks. According to a poll by Odoxa-Dentsu Consulting, published yesterday by the newspaper Le Figaro, the yellow vests still enjoy the support of 2 French out of 3.