New demonstrations took place today (Saturday) in France, “against the high cost of living and for the sake of youth,” for the fourth weekend in a row, amid strict security measures, especially in Paris, where the “yellow vest” movement intends to approach the centers of power.
This new mobilization, which follows massive union demonstrations that took place on Thursday, aims to maintain pressure on the authorities before a conference that the government called for on Monday morning with the participation of unions and employers, before meetings with student organizations in the afternoon.
Less than six months before the presidential elections led by far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, Sebastien Le Cornu's government cannot rely on a majority in the National Assembly, while President Emmanuel Macron faces a new social crisis that the radical left candidate, whom opinion polls expect will move to the second round of elections, intends to exploit.
On Saturday, Jean-Luc Mélenchon will hold a huge gathering to launch his campaign. The crisis began with a movement of high school students protesting the state of national education, before demands were added regarding the high cost of living and a protest against Macron, who is leaving the presidency in May after ten years in power.
Unions representing students and teachers in France called for a new strike on Tuesday, to maintain pressure on the government to increase spending on education.
In a letter he addressed on Friday to the social partners, Lecornu stressed that he is listening to “the aspirations expressed regarding wages and purchasing power” and the “concerns” of employers, stressing that the conference “will allow for the presentation of concrete responses to the aspirations of the French.”
The Federation of Youth Syndicates and local unions called for a demonstration on Saturday “against the high cost of living and for the sake of youth” as part of an authorized march heading from La Republique Square in the heart of Paris to La Nation Square.
At noon, demonstrators began arriving at La Republique Square.
For its part, the “Yellow Vests” coordination called for a separate gathering, which was banned by the authorities, in Place de la Concorde near the headquarters of the National Assembly.
Police were deployed in large numbers on Saturday morning around the square, close to the Elysee Palace, to enforce compliance with the ban.
In total, the “yellow vests” are organizing about 120 movements on Saturday in various locations in France, after holding about 1,700 movements on October 17.
For its part, the authorities intend at all costs to avoid a repeat of the acts of violence, looting, and vandalism that accompanied the first day of mobilization on October 17, after Thursday’s movements went “generally well,” according to the Ministry of Interior.
Consequently, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced yesterday (Friday) the “renewal” of the intensive security measures taken two days ago, with the deployment of 70,000 police and security personnel across France, warning that “the danger is the same as on previous Saturdays.”
The Police Directorate on “X” announced that 847 inspections would be conducted by 11:00 at train stations in and around Paris.
Decisions were issued to ban demonstrations in the center of some cities, including the city of Rennes in western France, due to the “serious acts of violence” that occurred Thursday in the city.
The future of the movements depends to a large extent on the responses that the government will present on Monday during the social conference.
The trade union coordination, which includes the eight main national unions, announced that it would announce its position on Monday evening. The unions wrote, “The only thing that will stop the mobilization is responding to the demands that wage earners, employees, youth, and retirees have been expressing for weeks.”
Marielise Leon, general secretary of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), the largest French union, said that the scale of Thursday's demonstrations "should make the government realize that it cannot wait until the presidential elections."
The union is demanding an increase in the minimum wage by 100 euros net. The government has been indicating for several days that it is open to taking action regarding the minimum wage, but it will not be as high as the unions demand.
A new book reveals that French President Emmanuel Macron has a secret hideout outside Paris, where he can seek refuge if protesters storm the Elysee Palace, according to The Telegraph.
The hideout, located on the outskirts of the French capital, was revealed in a book entitled “The New Army of Shadows” (La Nouvelle Armée des Ombres), written by investigative journalists Pierre Gastineau, Antoine Izambar and Franck Renaud.
France has been witnessing violent unrest for weeks, amid reports that intelligence leaders are preparing for the possibility of riots, sabotage, and cyber attacks, and are even making plans to deploy special forces to confront any possible armed uprising in conjunction with the presidential elections scheduled for 2027.
The arrangements for the bunker came, in part, against the backdrop of the “yellow vest” protests in 2018, when Macron was attacked by angry demonstrators during his visit to the city of Le Puy-en-Ville, according to excerpts from the book published by the magazine “L’Express”.
One of the book's authors said in a statement to France Inter radio on Friday: "The government has been shaken."
Following these events, the authorities began studying plans to evacuate the president, recalling memories of the violent riots that France witnessed in February 1934, which then led to the fall of the French government.
According to the authors, officials fear that the victory of the National Rally, a right-wing populist party led by Marine Le Pen, will spark a “third round” of street protests.
Far-left activists, youth from the suburbs, and groups from rural areas who refuse to recognize the election results may participate in these protests.
On the other hand, the victory of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the candidate of the far-left “France Proud” party, which current opinion polls indicate is likely to reach a runoff in the presidential elections, may lead to the emergence of a state of “passive resistance” within the ranks of the police.
The book's authors, citing high-ranking sources, reported that Patrice Faure, the Paris police chief, held frequent meetings to prepare for a possible rebellion.
In a related context, the General Directorate of External Security, the French foreign intelligence service, conducted a simulation of election interference scenarios.
The police in the French capital were also trained to work throughout the entire day without using encrypted smartphones, in anticipation of the country being exposed to a large-scale electronic attack that could lead to the paralysis of systems.
A senior intelligence official had warned the book's authors since April that France was heading toward widespread unrest, pointing to rising fuel prices and escalating popular anger that began with the "yellow vest" protests.
However, intelligence officials greatly underestimated their estimates of the numbers of participants in the October 17 demonstrations, as they expected between 60,000 and 150,000 demonstrators to come out, while the actual number of participants exceeded 500,000 people.
