The launch of the "great national debate", supposed to channel two months of social anger, will have done nothing. On Saturday, the "yellow vests" remained mobilized throughout France, during a tenth day of action marked by a record participation in Toulouse and clashes in several cities.
Stable mobilization
Like last Saturday, the Ministry of the Interior has identified 84,000 demonstrators in France. In Paris, however, the mobilization showed a slight decline with 7,000 demonstrators against 8,000 the previous week. In the capital, 42 people were arrested, far from the hundreds of arrests of the demonstrations in December. Thirty-six of them, including two minors, were placed in police custody, Europe 1 told the prosecutor's office. Elsewhere in France, 49 people were arrested in Bordeaux, and 24 in Toulouse, where the facades of the city hall were tagged and shop windows bank deteriorated.
This figure is contested every week by the protesters and some have set up their own counting system called "the yellow number", the higher result. In terms of security, 80,000 police and gendarmes were deployed throughout the country, including 5,000 in Paris. In addition to demands on purchasing power, this "act 10" of the mobilization of "yellow vests" was also under the sign of anger over police violence, widely denounced in recent days.
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In Paris, a major event without major difficulties
In the regions and in the capital, the parades generally went off without major upheavals. In Paris, a procession of a thousand "yellow vests" started at midday from the Place des Invalides. In the cold, the demonstrators were gathered in a good-natured atmosphere. It is with the shouts of "Macron resignation" and after taking "La Marseillaise" that the procession has shaken. The route: a round trip of 14 kilometers between Invalides and the Place d'Italie, along which are many ministries and places of power. Like last week, the "yellow vests" framed the event by setting up their own police service.
AFP photo.
After the chaos of the Champs-Elysees in December, the boxer against gendarmes or police bikers violently taken to party in Paris, no significant images this Saturday. The first clashes started in the afternoon, near the Place des Invalides. The police used tear gas and water cannons against protesters who threw bottles and pavements. Adjacent streets, leading to ministries and other institutions, were blocked by ropes of policemen and gendarmes. Around 18 hours, the situation is largely back to normal.
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Some skirmishes in the regions and a record mobilization in Toulouse
In Toulouse, the mobilization reached a record on Saturday, with 10,000 demonstrators according to the prefecture. Far ahead of Paris (7,000 protesters) and Bordeaux (4,000 demonstrators), where the movement has been closely followed since 17 November. Last Saturday, the Pink City had already broken a record with 6,000 demonstrators officially listed by the prefecture. One of the figures of the movement, Maxime Nicolle alias "Fly Rider" participated in the parade to which a few dozen CGT trade unionists joined.
Solidarity breakfast. Elsewhere, some initiatives had been put in place, such as a "toll free" operation in Avignon or a solidarity breakfast served on the forecourt of the Le Mans train station. In Lyon, the thousand "yellow vests" marched on the banks of the Rhone but was prevented from accessing the hypercentre trader.
Clashes with the police in Bordeaux. In Dijon, about fifty "yellow vests", who had separated from the main procession, entered "the perimeter of the prison" to demand the "release of their comrades" before leaving on their own, indicated Prefecture. In Rouen, 15 people were arrested. On the Bordeaux side, some 4,000 "yellow vests" marched in the center of the city for "Act 10" which ended, like the previous ones, by violent clashes with the police and 49 arrests .
The procession of "yellow vests" in Bordeaux. AFP photo.
Fake News. In Rennes, where 2,000 people were on the streets, a woman, a victim of discomfort, was evacuated by the Samu, told reporters. But soon, false information that a protester was dead began to circulate on social networks. The prefecture of Ille-et-Vilaine denied this "fake news", indicating that this person had been evacuated by relief "in a relative emergency". "She is asthmatic and the tear has triggered a crisis," said the chief of staff of the prefecture.
Barricades in Angers. Elsewhere, the demonstrations were sometimes enamelled with skirmishes or degenerated during their dispersion as in Nancy, Angers, Toulon or Rennes. In Toulon, clashes erupted around the Mayol stadium, where RC Toulon faced the Edinburgh Scots in European Cup rugby. Four people were arrested and a protester wounded in the eye by a defensive bullets launcher. In Angers, where barricades were erected, the prefecture reported an attempted fire against the Bank of France and damage to the tramway construction site.
Anger intact in the face of police violence
Reluctant to the claim of "yellow vests" which claim everywhere the establishment of a citizens' initiative referendum (RIC), the President defended during two trips this week in the region his "great national debate", articulated around four themes: purchasing power, taxation, democracy and the environment. "I just want more democracy", "Macron, your account is good", "RIC!" answered the signs in the streets.
In the capital as in the region, anger was still intact in the face of police violence, denounced in the last days, and social injustice. Since the start of the movement on November 17, more than 1,800 "yellow vests" have been injured, according to a police source on Saturday night. At the end of the day, Christophe Castaner welcomed in a tweet "the action of the police force mobilized again everywhere in France" and condemned "without reserve degradations committed in Rennes, Bordeaux, Toulouse ... and violence again perpetrated against journalists ".
I salute the action of the police forces mobilized again everywhere in France to guarantee the republican order.
Unqualified condemnation of the degradations committed in Rennes, Bordeaux, Toulouse ... and the violence once again perpetrated against journalists. pic.twitter.com/gA8Q2RSvUH
"Stop the massacres" posted a sign in Dijon; "Castaner the butcher, mutilated France", shouted the crowd in Toulouse, targeting the Minister of the Interior who defended on Friday the use by the police of the launcher of controversial defense bullets LBD. The mobilization will continue on Sunday in several cities. Women "yellow vests" call for a demonstration in Paris, inspired by the peaceful event they had already organized on January 6.
A rally of angry journalists in Paris
They say no to violence and yes to the right to inform. The association Reporters Without Borders initiated a petition and organized a rally on the Place de la République in Paris on Saturday to defend the freedom to inform and denounce the violence that occurred during the last days of mobilization of "yellow vests".