Caroline Baudry, edited by Juline Garnier 1:50 p.m., January 07, 2023

Four years after the start of their massive mobilization, the Yellow Vests are back on the streets to protest against the government's social reforms.

"It's about bringing together workers, union members or not, the unemployed, retirees to organize a collective struggle in this year 2023", assures one of the organizers of the day.

It could be the start of a month of social protest.

The yellow vests are therefore making their comeback today.

For one of the organizers of the rally of the day, "it is a question of bringing together workers, unionized or not, the unemployed, the pensioners to organize a collective struggle in this year 2023, in order to preserve the social rights for which the older generations fought".

In Paris, the appointment is given from 2 p.m. and a few hundred of them were already present at noon.

>>

Find the weekend midday newspaper in podcast and replay here

"It can't go on like this anymore"

Olivier, 26, yellow vest on his back, is one of them.

He came to carry several of his demands.

"The country is falling into disrepair, all the public services are proof of this and it can't continue like this. So we are here, for the honor of the workers and for a better world. Inflation has been climbing for ten years , that wages do not increase and that we have gone from living to surviving. Today, it is a duty to rebel, "he explains. 

This protester hopes for a massive return of the movement.

Some lit yellow smoke bombs at the meeting place in the 7th arrondissement, wearing a few slogans and a blue, white, red flag.

There is no crowd but a dozen law enforcement vehicles are already parked near the rally.

>> READ ALSO -

 "We are in a context of vest-yellowing", estimates Frédéric Dabi

Daily difficulties

France in the space of a few months has become a real pressure cooker.

The pension reform, the decline in purchasing power, the impression that on the side of the leaders, it does not print... Many French people do not see the end of the inflationary tunnel.

“There has been a 12% increase in food prices in one year. On certain product categories, we can even go up to 30%. And then there are energy-related products, so heating and travel. So these are the difficulties that actually change the daily life of a very large majority of French people", explains Sandra Hoibian, director general Research Center for the Study and Observation of Living Conditions (Crédoc) .

And a heightened sense of vulnerability

"We are at 70% of the population today who say they have had to review their lifestyles in relation to this inflationary context," she adds.

Studies carried out by Crédoc show that the people most affected are young people, people on low incomes but also those from the middle classes, hit hardest by the rise in prices.

"The feeling of vulnerability has increased because the slightest glitch can push families into poverty. So we really have a weakening of the French population. There is no longer really any budgetary room for maneuver", confides the specialist .

"Housing prices have already been very high for twenty years and inflation is added to that, after two years of Covid-19. In short, there is great fatigue," she concludes.