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Thursday March 28, 2024

"Yellow Vests": a mobilization weekend for Act 17

After almost four months of existence, the movement is facing a slow decline since several Saturdays. For act 16, 39,300 demonstrators had been identified in France by the Ministry of the Interior, including 4,000 in Paris.

By AFP
March 09, 2019

Events in France, sit-in near the Eiffel Tower and mobilization of women: the "yellow vests" organize a weekend of mobilization for their act 17, before their big national day of March 16, for the end of the great national debate .

After almost four months of existence, the movement is facing a slow decline since several Saturdays. For act 16, 39,300 demonstrators had been identified in France by the Ministry of the Interior, including 4,000 in Paris.

Official figures routinely challenged by the "yellow vests" who profess their flawless motivation, one week from the end of the great debate wanted by the executive to bring political solutions to this vast social challenge.

"Decisive Act: we will not move": the main event of the weekend in Paris proposes to camp and do a sit-in on the Champ de Mars. Events are also planned in Lyon, Besançon, Strasbourg, Lille, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Avignon, Quimper or Puy-en-Velay.

As early as Friday night, some 30 protesters tried to install some structures near the Eiffel Tower, but were quickly dislodged by law enforcement, said an AFP journalist.

"Failing the announcement of real measures, we will stay on the spot all weekend and beyond if necessary," says the Facebook page of the event, which has 1,400 participants declared on Facebook and 6,000 "interested".


This occupation of the Champ de Mars was largely relayed by the historical figures of the movement. "The 8.9, 10, big sit-in, big mobilization", promised Maxime Nicolle in a video Thursday. "We will sleep on the spot."

The Parisian sit-in must "install our roundabouts in the heart of the capital, where we will be visible to all and heard", explained Priscillia Ludosky last week in a press conference.

Act 17 is also inspired by International Women's Rights Day. Saturday, women "yellow vests" call for a declared event in Paris, from 11:00 between the Champs-Elysees and the park of Luxembourg. Objective: to "converge all mobilizations".

A "giant flashmob" at Terminal 1 of Paris Roissy airport is also announced at midday, to protest against the privatization project of Aéroports de Paris.

For the "yellow vests", the goal of the month of March is to return to the spirit of the beginnings, when the movement had gathered 282,000 people across France on November 17.

Scheduled on March 16, the act 18 of the movement will take place the day after the official end of the great debate and hopes to gather "the whole France in Paris" to launch an "ultimatum" to the government.