“Act III” of demonstrations against the high cost of living: in Paris, what route did the Prefecture authorize?

October 31, Halloween Day, marks the third act of the demonstration against the “high cost of living”, carried, among others, by the yellow vests, the unions and high school students who continue to demand their rights to a decent and equitable educational environment. However, the excesses which took place on the sidelines of the demonstrations on the weekend of October 17 pushed the Ministry of the Interior to strongly restrict the authorized demonstration areas. “In view of the risks of disturbances to public order, the Police Prefect has issued a partial ban on a demonstration planned in Paris this Saturday, October 31,” wrote the police headquarters on its X account this Friday morning.

Concerning the march of the procession on Saturday October 31, the Police Prefecture decided to move the route towards the east to avoid again involving the sectors of the city center such as the Place de la République or the Halles, very affected by the violence on the sidelines of the demonstration of October 17. The different routes proposed have all been merged into a single route which must begin at Porte de Bagnolet at 2 p.m., with arrival on site possible from 12 p.m. Before reaching the end of the march at Porte de Charenton, in the 12th century in the far south-east of the capital, the demonstrators will descend along the boulevards of the Maréchaux, parallel to the ring road. The end of the demonstration is scheduled for 6 p.m., which should make it possible to avoid prolonging the gatherings during the night. Furthermore, in another decree, the Paris police headquarters ordered a curfew on Friday in the areas of Place de la République and Châtelet-Les Halles for the nights of Saturday to Sunday then from Sunday to Monday from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.

This route is, however, far from the one envisaged by the yellow vests, a certain part of which is demonstrating again in the streets of Paris, eight years later. The latter hoped to be able to start their procession at Place de la Bastille, then pass through Place de la République and follow the Grands Boulevards to the Opera, to finish on the symbolic Place de la Concorde, in the 8th arrondissement, opposite the National Assembly. But after the significant damage caused to numerous businesses, 3,000 across France, this route has not been validated.

The unions did not win their case with the prefecture either. Their march planned to start from Place de la Bastille to follow the Gare de Lyon district and finish at Place de la Nation, to the east of Paris.

In a press release dated October 28, “the Île-de-France inter-union refuses the change of route imposed by the prefecture”. She denounces in particular a “route once again confined to the boulevards of the marshals”. Finally, she announces that she is studying all possibilities of appeal “against this general and disproportionate ban on the exercise of a public freedom essential in a democracy”.