Hundreds of "yellow vests" demonstrated Saturday in Clermont-Ferrand, chosen as the "national capital" for this 49th act of the movement, dedicated to firefighters. Several groups from Puy-de-Dôme but also Cantal or Creuse, joined early in the afternoon Place de Jaude, viewing the police deployed in the streets adjacent to shouts of "person likes" the police".
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"Today, we came to say our support for firefighters, we try to have a convergence between all trades," says Gilbert, a baker from the Center. A firefighting demonstration in Paris on Monday had ended with clashes with the police and at least one firefighter was injured in the eye.
300 "yellow vests" in Toulouse, 400 in Bordeaux
The procession - some 500 people at the height of the event according to the prefecture - then won the iconic cathedral, before descending towards the center, where lit fires were lit. Only a few people had put on a yellow vest: "The police confiscate them," says Alain, 58, who says he is there "because nothing has changed in a year, the gas is even more expensive and the gap grows between the rich and the poor ".
Marie, 44, made the trip from Eure-et-Loire: "I'm a solo mom and I can not do it! We have to show people that we are motivated to relaunch the movement," she says. . A cordon of CRS then barred the access to the place of Jaude where the prefecture had forbidden any demonstration. Nine arrests had taken place in the middle of the afternoon, according to the prefecture.
Also in Toulouse, more than 300 "yellow vests" started demonstrating around 14:00. In Bordeaux, they were 400 at the height according to the police, in Lille, 150, and in Lyon, a hundred.