Several thousand "yellow vests" marched Saturday in several cities in France, Montpellier, Toulouse, Bordeaux or Strasbourg, a few days before the first anniversary of the movement, in a sometimes tense atmosphere.
In Montpellier, some 600 to 700 people marched in response to a "national" call, in a rapidly tense atmosphere marked by several arrests. Shortly before 18 hours, 12 people were arrested, and three police officers and a protesters slightly injured, said the prefecture of Herault.
"Live and not survive"
From the beginning of the demonstration, in the early afternoon, several ropes of CRS surrounded the protesters, including blocking access to the station, the Polygon shopping mall and the prefecture, and sent tear gas, noted an AFP correspondent. Some protesters, wearing gas masks, helmets or balaclavas, threw smoke and firecrackers, while a mobile speaker spewed the music of the Star Wars saga.
In Strasbourg, a few hundred "yellow vests", many from neighboring Lorraine, also responded Saturday to a regional call to demonstrate in the Alsatian capital. Armed with firecrackers and smoke, they marched loudly in the early afternoon behind a banner proclaiming "Live and not survive, we do not let anything," chanting slogans hostile to Emmanuel Macron and shouting "it'll fart", "Revolution!"
Several hundred people are at the start of the regional demonstration of #giletsjaunes for this act 52. The procession starts from the place of the star in #Strasbourg. pic.twitter.com/T62HMB31rQ
- France Blue Alsace (@bleualsace) November 9, 2019300 people mobilized in Toulouse
In Toulouse, around 300 people demonstrated in the city center. The procession initially took narrow streets to avoid the police but after two hours of mobilization, a hundred protesters went to a line of CRS. After a few dozen minutes of face-to-face and various summons, the CRS fired tear gas canisters to disperse the protesters.
In Bordeaux, the "yellow vests" were joined by Kurdish demonstrators. To "Assassin Erdogan, Rojava will live, Rojava will win" answered "Work, consume and shut your mouth". Some "yellow vests" waved Kurdish flags and others shouted "Assassin Erdogan", while some Kurds wore yellow vests.