STORY
Before the beginning of the March for the climate, concomitant of the 45th Saturday of mobilization of the "yellow vests", the organizers had called for calm. "Everyone is welcome, we do not oppose climate justice and social justice, we must respect the consensus of non-violent action," said an organizer. But thirty minutes later, the situation was suddenly tense, Saturday in Paris. The demonstration, which gathered some 15,000 people according to the firm Occurrence, was then parasitized by violence.
"It's a messy feeling"
The march was from the beginning dotted with incidents between the police and black blocks, protesters dressed in black from head to toe. They set fire to several scooters parked Boulevard Saint-Michel, broken shop windows, but also bus shelters and newsstands. The police responded by firing tear gas and de-encircling grenades.
Taken up in panic, the crowd then backed down, leaving the protesters in a situation of misunderstanding. "It's a feeling of waste, we come to music, party and challenge our decision makers to take care of our planet and incidentally the human being ...", testified at the microphone of Europe 1 Houria, who was at the head of the procession. "There, they show us that they have nothing to do with the human being.I am absolutely neither armed nor helmeted and I was gassed."
"Macron, polluter of the Earth"
Patrice, another protester met after these clashes, pointed him the only responsibility of the "black blocks": "It is they who manage to impose their timing.We are obliged to turn around, it is still unheard of and it's still sad for this critical climate issue. " Asked by Europe 1 Saturday evening, the director of Greenpeace France, Jean-François Julliard, also said his feeling of "mess". "We have seen tear gas canisters in the midst of peaceful and non-violent protesters," he said. "We did not need that at all, we had a peaceful family rally with people."
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At 18 hours, 163 people had been arrested and 395 verbalized, according to the Paris police headquarters, while 99 were still in sight. After a moment of confusion due to the violence, the procession for the climate had finally come to an end, in the district of Bercy, in a family atmosphere. There, environmental activists blocked the Tolbiac bridge and the footbridge Simone de Beauvoir, by deploying banners. On one of them, one could read, in English, "Macron, polluter of the Earth".