Protests in France continued on Saturday with demonstrations by students, school pupils, trade unions and participants in the “yellow vest” movement. Youth unions said that 250,000 people had taken to the streets across the country, including 75,000 in Paris. The Interior Ministry reported 146,000 participants in 141 rallies, including 46,000 in the capital. The discrepancy between the estimates was similar to that during the protests on November 5, when the authorities counted 575,000 people, while the CGT trade union put the figure at nearly 1.6 million.
In Paris, around 100 supporters of the “yellow vest” movement gathered at Place de la Concorde, despite the official ban on protests in the area. Most of them were not wearing the movement’s distinctive high-visibility vests. The group was quickly surrounded by police, and the Paris police prefecture said that the demonstrators had been checked by law enforcement officers.
At the beginning of the afternoon, Benjamin Ball, a member of the movement’s coordinating group, and spokeswoman Azelma Sigaux were detained outside the National Assembly. Ball had earlier said that the “yellow vests” were calling for “mass civil disobedience”.
Discontent over prices and incomes
Among those taking part in the attempted protest at Place de la Concorde was Marie, a 20-year-old Parisian. “I can’t make ends meet while working a 40-hour week,” she said. According to her, everything is becoming more expensive, except wages.
“They eat popcorn while watching us get crushed,” Marie said of the political leaders.The demonstrators’ demands include higher incomes, measures to limit the effects of rising prices and increased funding for education. Protests by student and teachers’ organizations are taking place in parallel with the mobilization of trade unions and the return of the “yellow vests” as an independent force.
Further action expected
Around 70,000 police officers and gendarmes were mobilized across France for Saturday’s events. Student and teachers’ organizations have called for a new strike on Tuesday to demand more funding for education.
Talks between the government, trade unions and employers are scheduled to take place at the Hôtel de Matignon on Monday. The protesters, however, signaled that the talks would not automatically bring the mobilization to an end. The two different figures for the number of participants announced by the authorities and the trade unions also show that the political confrontation over the scale of the discontent is continuing.
Sources: france24.com, afp.com, lemonde.fr