They did not meet their expectations. This Saturday, January 7, the “yellow vests” inaugurated a year that promises to be socially shaken, against a backdrop of inflation and pension reform. Their call for a convergence of “angry citizens”, was not heard: they were 500 in Paris, according to the prefecture, 1,500 according to the demonstrators. Never mind the battle of numbers. When these are of this level, the conclusion is the same: the number was not there.
In the procession, no one seemed really surprised, among the “yellow vests”. “People are afraid to demonstrate”, some say, “It’s the first event of the year, it’s symbolic”, others say. “It will go up in the next few weeks”, most hope… This event, however, looked a little different from those of the past few months. Because in the procession, in addition to the unmissable and permanent characters – the lawyer David Libeskind, the “deliverer” Jamel Bouabane, Moun Yolo and his multicolored umbrella at the head of the procession, Pierre Frédéric Zieba, handicapped in a wheelchair, or the young Richie , 18, including four years of yellow vest battle – we were still able to spot new faces. Pauline, navy coat, handbag and neat little earrings, teacher in a REP north of Paris. She no longer came to demonstrations, she told us, because she was taking care of her seriously ill husband, who has since died. “Today, I had to be there. Not because my fridge is empty: I make a decent living. But because I demand a fairer, more fraternal society… for this motto, “liberty equality fraternity” that we seem to have forgotten “. She assured us that she would continue to take to the streets for the next few weeks. “We have to stay present, even if we are not many, so people will know who to relate to when they really can’t take it anymore. We know it will start again… We are very patient, us, the “yellow vests”. »
“I’m waiting for it to burst”
C., 39, had not come to demonstrate either with the “yellow vests” for a while. “There, it was necessary to mark the blow”, she told us. Working in the humanitarian sector, she is about to go to Ukraine, ” but on my return I resume the demonstrations, I will probably go on strike “. And in a quiet voice, she adds: I’m waiting for it to burst. »
P., a specialist educator, had no experience of the “yellow vests” demonstrations. “Today I came to see, to feel”. In 2017, the fiftieth voted Emmanuel Macron in the second round. In 2022, Mélenchon in the first round. He abstained in the second round. Impossible for him to vote again for Emmanuel Macron. “I was very shocked by the violence suffered by the demonstrators. I do not accept what they have experienced, this attack on the rights to demonstrate. » Like our other interlocutors, he felt that ” pressure ” was going to go up in the coming weeks”, and assured that he would be there in the demonstrations, whether they were organized by the “yellow vests” or by the unions… some of which were present, moreover, in the procession. But as discreet observers…
“ Convergence is needed any initiative is good to take”, A CGT manager slipped us. There are not many people, but I feel it going up. The “yellow vests” having missed the first salvo of the year, the unions, which have not succeeded in massing in the street for a long time either, will they succeed in the next one?
