The demonstration that brought together 110,000 protesters in Paris ended with new clashes with the police, who fired tear gas and water cannons against the crowd. The march, joined by Jean-Luc Mélencho, leader of France Insoumise, passed peacefully and without incident for three hours, between the Porte d'Italia and the Porte de Vincennes, in a route imposed at the last minute by the local prefecture.
After half past five in the afternoon, the police gave orders over the public address system to "leave the scene", received with boos and shouts of "Everyone hates the police" and with chants of the Marseillaise. Neither the police charge nor the rain that fell in the last section managed to deter the protesters, who joined en masse and with a festive air to the march finally called in the south of Paris, after the police 'locked' the Place de la Bastille.
Some 410,000 people according to the Ministry of the Interior (800,000 according to the CGT union) took to the streets throughout France on the second day of national mobilization to which the 'yellow vests' also joined. Despite the curfews and bans imposed in dozens of cities such as Lyon, Limoges or Rouen, the number of protesters was practically the same as on October 17.
The initial number of detainees was 135, but it increased throughout the day with serious incidents such as those that occurred in Tolouse, where a protester was seriously injured and lost several fingers on one hand in circumstances that have not yet been clarified. In Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux and Nice there were also harsh clashes with the police.
"The strategy has been clear: divide and disperse," lamented Berntrand Avrois, of the General Confederation of Workers (CGT) union. "The Police imposed a new route on us at the last minute and we had no choice but to change our plans or risk mass arrests."
"The only source of chaos and disorganization is the power, which is seeking an escalation to suffocate the right to demonstrate," denounced the leader of France Insoumise (LFI), Jean-Luc Mélenchon, after the change of route in the union demonstration in Paris. "History will remember this president: two catastrophic mandates that end with the repression of demonstrations focused on demands that he himself considers legitimate. What is happening is grotesque."
"Protesting is more than a right, it is now a duty," read the cardboard banner waved by Sarah Auvray, 21, a student at Sciences Po university in Paris. "I was on the verge of not coming, after having swallowed the tear gas last week. But last night we got together and decided that we had to be here and as many times as necessary. This movement will continue to grow despite police repression."
The inter-union platform described the change of route imposed at the last minute by the Police as "unacceptable." After losing a judicial appeal, the CGT, however, gave instructions to its militants to head towards the Plaza de Italia and warned that those who demonstrate in La Bastille "will be in danger of police and judicial repression."
The police "lockdown" in Paris extended from the city center to the Arc de Triomphe, with several metro stations closed to prevent protesters from approaching the Elysee Palace. The Louvre Museum closed its doors, as did dozens of businesses for fear of riots such as what caused more than 2,000 arrests, 3,000 stores looted and nearly a thousand people injured on October 17.
Le Pen Congress
Another conflict point throughout the day will be the city of Orleans, where Le Pen's Marine National Rally (RN) is holding its congress. Up to 30,000 people are expected to join a counter-demonstration "against fascism" called by left-wing parties, led by the "rebellious" mayor of Saint-Denis Bally Bagayoko.
"We are not the troublemakers, we are the defenders of the Republic," Bagayoko declared upon his arrival in Orleans. "We are here to demand the democratic right to demonstrate in the face of institutional violence."
Prohibition of "non-legitimate" demonstrations
President Macron announced on Thursday the ban on "non-legitimate" demonstrations on October 24 and the authorization of only "union" marches. After imposing curfews during the week, dozens of cities anticipated the ban on demonstrations announced for this Saturday. Limoges, after the fire that destroyed the Town Hall a week ago, and Lyon, due to the arson of an emblematic tourist office, took the lead in bans.
The last-minute exception was Marseille, where dozens of assailants tried to force entry to City Hall on October 17. The local prefecture and the unions finally reached an agreement for a "legitimate" march that will run from two in the afternoon between Réformés and the Porte d'Aix.
