Very clever whoever could have estimated the scale of the mobilization of the “yellow vests” this Saturday, January 7. While the movement painfully gathered a few hundred demonstrators during its last call to march in Paris, on November 19, 2022 (700 according to the prefecture, four times more according to the demonstrators), the “yellow vests” intended this Saturday to make the parades in several major cities in France. To do this, the pillars of the movement wanted to cast a wide net, calling for demonstrations “for social, tax and climate justice, for the RIC [référendum d’initiative citoyenne]against 49.3 [disposition constitutionnelle qui permet au gouvernement, qui vient de l’utiliser à dix reprises en deux mois, de faire adopter un texte au Parlement sans vote], against inflation, for peace, against pension reform, against the increase in basic necessities…”
Alas, the regional press describes this Saturday timid gatherings, much weaker than at the height of the movement. France Bleu thus evokes “weak mobilization” at Nancywhere “About fifteen yellow vests took over the Heillecourt roundabout”“the Dispatch” “a shy return” in Tarbeswith a parade “about fifty people”, and when “Midday Free” note the presence of“about twenty people from the antipass movements and the Gard yellow vests” gathered in Nîmes and France 3, about 60 “yellow vests” in Nice.
The mobilization was nevertheless more important in Vannes where, according to “The Telegram”, “About 200 people demonstrated.” A procession ” modest “according to the daily, which “dissipated in the rain mid-afternoon”. Similar figures in the Grand Est, where the regional daily “Alsace” evoked “around 150 demonstrators in Strasbourg and Colmar, 200 in Mulhouse”.
In Paris, a more extensive procession
There remains the Parisian mobilization, the most extensive, which seems to have mobilized several hundred people, according to the images of the procession shared on social networks. No figures have yet been communicated, either by the organizers or by the Paris police headquarters.
Several videos also show a strong police presence, especially at the head of the procession. If most of the witnesses finally underline ” calm “ demonstrators, some note despite everything “some tensions in the procession”. But no scene of scuffles, such as those which had enamelled the demonstrations of the “yellow vests”, during the first term of Emmanuel Macron.
Sufficient mobilization to claim victory and relaunch the movement? It is probably far too early to tell.
