The yellow vests call for a new mobilization on October 31 and denounce an “authoritarian drift”

“Our freedoms are under attack.” During a press conference organized on Saturday October 24 in Paris, two representatives of the yellow vest coordination announced the holding of a day of mobilization on October 31, for "the defense of public freedoms". Criticizing "the authoritarian drift" of the executive, which banned numerous processions, a week after the violence and looting which shook France, Benjamin Ball and Azelma Sigaux called for people to come together in seven days to defend "public liberties", through rallies and sit-ins in front of the National Assembly and French town halls.

The two yellow vests spoke in front of a café on the Place de la Bastille, from where the Parisian procession against the high cost of living and for high school demands was initially supposed to leave. The route negotiated between the police headquarters and the inter-union was finally modified Friday evening, moving the demonstration to the south of the capital, between the Porte d'Italie and the Porte de Versailles.

“There is an anger in this country” which “is not heard”, reads the declaration of the yellow vests, who denounce “the contempt, the refusal to listen, the lies and the repression” of a government which “tries to divide us.”

“By criminalizing our movement, [the government] wants to prevent the united front that is being born,” added Benjamin Ball and Azelma Sigaux, reading a statement in turn. "Our response is unity", they continued, calling for "convergence assemblies throughout France", bringing together "high school students, students, yellow vests, workers, farmers, retirees...", the representatives of the coordination again listed.