75,000 people participated Saturday, almost everywhere in France, in Act Three of the Yellow Vests movement. Demonstrations took place in all French regions. But overflows took place in several cities. Especially in Paris where serious violence occurred. At the end of this third day of national action "yellow vests", 270 people were arrested in the capital and 110 injured, including 17 among the police.
It is 8 pm Around the Etoile, on the boulevards, in the chic districts, the same scenes of chaos: cars returned or burned, broken windows, shops looted, buildings tagged, cobblestones torn, the Arc de Triomphe stained by graffiti. The third act of the yellow vests movement gave rise to scenes of great violence in Paris.
In the smoke of burning fires and tear gas, the face between law enforcement and yellow vests continues in the most confusion in many streets. The police advance blindly facing the baricades of the demonstrators. The face-to-face lasts for several hours. All day almost.
How has the situation degenerated in Paris?
Access to the Champs Elysees had been carefully regulated: no traffic, all objects that could serve as projectiles had been removed and each pedestrian was carefully controlled before entering the walls of the most beautiful avenue in the world. But it is around the Arc de Triomphe, left free to the traffic, that the clashes began around 8am. The first protesters try to force a barrage of CRS. The police fight back, protesters are arrested while the most radicalized begin to seize everything that falls under their hand to use as a projectile. Semonce on one side, throwing stones on the other, riposte with the tear gas, the situation degenerates quickly.
While protestors enter the summit of the Arc de Triomphe, others hold a rally in front of the tomb of the unknown soldier. In the neighboring streets, violence rises a notch: on the big boulevards the showcases fly in shine, dozens cars are burned, the demonstrators mount barricades. Stores are stormed, fires are lit in several buildings. These guerrilla scenes will last part of the evening. Towards 23h, a precarious calm seemed returned in the capital, but the damage is considerable. 110 people were injured, including 17 among the police. A yellow vest is in a state of absolute urgency. 270 people were arrested.
What has been the situation in the rest of France?
In France, the Ministry of the Interior has registered 75,000 demonstrators. Most of the rally was peaceful. 2000 people demonstrated in Brest, Filter dams at the exit of the A7 motorway in Orange for example, round points occupied in Calvados or Aisne, trucks blocked at the ferry terminal of Saint-Malo, supermarkets blocked by the protesters in Saint-Brieuc (Côtes d'Armor), snail operation as in Ardèche, white march in Rennes. But overflows took place in several cities. In Puy-en-Velay, the prefecture was burned in Charleville-Mézières, violent clashes occurred and about fifteen people were arrested; Strong altercations also in Toulouse and Nantes while in Bordeaux, 2,000 protesters tried to enter the town hall. In Saint-Etienne, thugs tried to enter a shopping center and in Haute-Loire, the prefecture was burned after the jet of molotov cocktails.
What answer can the government provide?
From Argentina where he participated in the G20, Emmanuel Macron condemned the violence of Saturday. "I will never accept violence. No cause justifies that the police are attacked, that businesses are looted, that passers-by or journalists are threatened, that the Arc de Triomphe is defiled, " added the French president, speaking in Buenos Aires. Aires, at the end of the G20 summit.
For his part, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe canceled his participation in the G24 in Poland and will preside on Sunday, an inter-ministerial meeting around the President of the Republic to provide an answer to the protesters. "I want to say how much I was shocked by the questioning of symbols that are symbols of France," said the Prime Minister.
Has the determination of yellow vests fallen after the incidents in Paris?
"I am in solidarity with the + yellow vests +, but I want to cry against all this violence," summarized Fanny, a 47-year-old nurse. "It smells of the Revolution . " "It will take a while that Macron hear us otherwise it will be worse and worse," said 52-year-old Gaetan farmer came from the Yonne, not far from the Champs-Elysees. " We are a peaceful movement, it's just that we are disorganized," says Dan, a 68-year-old "yellow vest ." But for many, the excesses of Saturday do not begin the determination. "The government must show strong signs to bring down the anger."