Yellow vests: the executive between "dialogue" and firmness, curfew in Reunion

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A yellow vest brandishes a sign on the ring road of Rennes (Brittany), November 20, 2018. SEBASTIEN SALOM GOMIS / AFP

During a state visit to Belgium, Emmanuel Macron was several times questioned about this protest movement on which he had until then let the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior go up to the front. 1 each of his interventions, he mentioned the movement without ever naming it. For its part, France insubstantial account respond present at an event announced for Saturday, but not yet declared in the prefecture. In the field, blockages are evacuated; but the situation remains tense in places, particularly in the overseas territory of Reunion.

Emmanuel Macron did not intend to talk about yellow vests . Questioned on the first day of his visit to Belgium, the head of state at first replied curtly: " I will answer in due course, but this is not the place today. "

But the subject was inevitable and it was addressed by a student of the Catholic University of Louvain during a debate, reports our special correspondent in Belgium, Valerie Gas . Then Emmanuel Macron explained: " The government is today faced with this subject to protests and it is in the dialogue that we can get out of it, in the explanation, in the ability to find the times the right pace and the field solutions. "

But the President reaffirmed it before the French community: the ecological transition is a priority objective and it requires "to have a policy of massive reduction of emissions [of greenhouse gases, note] for individuals, businesses and energy production, with the right incentives and therefore an accompanying policy that adapts. This is the whole debate that we have right now that sometimes takes passionate turns. "

And to those who criticize him, he recalls: " We like the theoretical debates and we too often neglect practical work, and the very ones who were for the theoretical debates do not see them anymore when we have to put our hands to the table. Transitions are hard because they involve changing habits and in no case can the ecological transition be at the expense of social transition. "

A promise to accompany the most modest.

Rogue people enter the dance

Dialogue, pedagogy, advocates the head of state. Meanwhile, in Paris, the Prime Minister accuses the previous socialist majority of having retreated before the mobilization of red caps and not to have attacked the ecological transition.

Interpellated by the opposition in the National Assembly, Edouard Phillippe reaffirms that the government will stay the course it has set: " We will do what we are committed to: tilt gradually and resolutely the taxation that weighed on work towards a tax that will weigh a little more, it is true, on fuels and carbon. It is something we are committed to, that we assume, that we know we need but that to be accepted must be accompanied. That's why, since last year, a number of instruments have been created, which is why last week I announced measures to make these instruments more effective. to broaden the base, to reinforce the intensity. We want to upgrade work and we want to take the ecological transition seriously. This is our axis, this is our policy, that we propose to the French and that we will implement. "

So firm on the government side. At the same time on the bottom and on the form. Thus, the head of government recalled that the demonstration scheduled Saturday, November 24 by yellow vests place de la Concorde in Paris was to be declared. Response to the president of insubordinate French leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon who had questioned him during questions to the government: " Saturday, it seems, you intend to ban the demonstration that yellow vests have called. I tell you, the Rogue will go. So, Prime Minister, let social democracy and parliamentary democracy come together, allow the demonstration, "he insisted.

Castaner regrets a "radicalization"

" We have, Mr. President Mélenchon, no intention to suppress or diminish freedom of expression and freedom of demonstration, retorted Edward Philippe . But we want, Mr. President Mélenchon, that [they] express themselves within the framework of the law. For it is not fair either to forbid the French to move when they wish to do so [...]. To demonstrate in France, it is necessary to declare a project of manifestation. And it is not at all incidental, it is important because it allows to secure a particular event, "said the head of government during questions to the government in the National Assembly.

Earlier in the day, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner denounced the " total drift " of demonstrations, pointing to a " radicalization " and " a very, very large number of wounded ." The police have worked on Tuesday to free access to deposits and tolls in several regions, in a sometimes tense climate. About twenty " strategic " sites have been unblocked during the day, said the Ministry of the Interior. Others remain however under tension.

Since the beginning of this mobilization against the rise in the price of fuel that has spread out of any union or political framework, the demonstrations have left one dead, some 530 wounded, including 17 serious ones. No official figure on the number of participants was available Tuesday afternoon but a police source evoked some 10,500 demonstrators across France early in the morning. They were 27,000 Monday, 290,000 Saturday.

Reunion under fire

Anger also affects the French island of the Indian Ocean. The prefect Amaury de
Saint-Quentin introduced Tuesday a ban on movement from 21h to 6h in half of the towns of the island, blocked by many roadblocks erected by yellow vests. This curfew is in effect until Friday at least.

Since November 17, several cities in Reunion are the scene of looting and various urban violence from dusk. Several supermarkets and other businesses were attacked in the night from Monday to Tuesday, including Saint-Denis, the capital. All schools, most shops and service stations, as well as public services (Chamber of Commerce and Industry in particular), are closed.

The fuel depot on the island has been blocked by protesters since Monday. The commercial port, whose access has been blocked since yesterday, is paralyzed. Three cruise liner stops have been canceled and the airlines are upsetting their flight programs because of the filtering barrier set up since Saturday in front of Roland-Garros airport in Saint-Denis. The two sugar factories on the island have also stopped since Saturday. " It is certain individuals, delinquents, very young for most of them, who have taken advantage of the demonstration of the yellow vests to loot, degrade, break and will voluntarily take to the police forces, explains a police officer attached by RFI. There are several hundred individuals, scattered over the different districts of police and gendarmerie of the island of Reunion, namely the different municipalities. More than sixty have been arrested over the past three days. We have about fifteen wounded policemen. All supermarkets are closed. We have to go and feed ourselves in small convenience stores. It will become complicated if it lasts a long time. "

According to our colleagues from La Première, a FranceInfo radio station in La Réunion, who follow the events live , clashes between police and youth continued in the evening. A little earlier, a delegation of yellow vests had been received in the prefecture. The discussions were unsuccessful, provoking disappointment and anger among the protesters.

(With AFP, Reuters)