Demonstrators will not be allowed to approach the Champs-Élysées this Saturday, October 17. In a particularly tense context after several weeks of high school mobilization, punctuated by several major parades in the capital, the Paris police prefect, Patrice Faure, issued orders prohibiting demonstrations in several strategic sectors, around the Élysée, Matignon and including the most beautiful avenue in the world.
All day this Friday, discussions took place to determine the route of the Parisian procession which will finally leave this Saturday at 2 p.m. from Place de la République towards Place de Clichy, according to the CGT, the Student Union and the High School Union. The prefecture refused an arrival in the center, as requested by high school and student organizations, who requested a meeting with the Prime Minister.
Namely that another demonstration was declared by several “yellow vests”, in which unions joined for a route going from the Place de l’Opéra, in the very center of Paris, to the Place de la Bastille. The prefecture also suggested that there was a “serious risk” that participants in the Interfac IDF demonstration would join the procession of “yellow vests” and unions, which was nevertheless banned.
Traffic restrictions
This is also the reason why a certain number of neighborhoods are barricaded this Saturday, placed under high surveillance since Friday evening, leading to a certain number of traffic restrictions. If the Champs-Élysées are not closed to traffic this Saturday morning, it is strongly recommended not to go to this area. Early this morning, barriers were erected there by demonstrators. “As soon as installed, immediately removed,” the PP then communicated, calling on everyone “to express their demands calmly and with respect for public order.”
In Paris Center, traffic will be prohibited on Quai des Orfèvres, in its part between Rue de Harlay and Boulevard du Palais, Boulevard du Palais, in its part between Pont Saint-Michel and Quai de la Corse and Quai du Marché Neuf - Maurice Grimaud, in its part between Boulevard du Palais and Rue de la Cité. And this, due to the organization of a ceremony in tribute to the victims of October 17, 1961, at the corner of the Saint-Michel bridge and the Quai du Marché Neuf.
In addition, all the gatherings which could take place on Saturday on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées but also the Place de la Concorde, the Place de la Bourse, the Place du Châtelet, the Châtelet-Les Halles sector, the Place de la Bastille, the Place d'Italie and their surroundings as well as those around the Élysée, the Ministry of the Interior, Matignon, the National Assembly, the Senate, the courthouse, the police headquarters, city hall and Parisian train stations are prohibited. Violators may be fined up to 135 euros, warned the PP, calling on demonstrators to take alternative routes which better correspond to “security requirements”.
Metro stations closed
For the occasion, the RATP announced the closure of 25 metro and RER stations from this Saturday at 8 a.m., “at the request of the Police Prefecture”. In detail, the stops will not be served this Saturday, October 17 from 8 a.m. at Charles de Gaulle-Étoile (lines 1, 2 and 6, RER A), Champs-Élysées - Clemenceau (lines 1 and 13), Concorde (lines 1, 8 and 12), Opéra (lines 3, 7 and 8), Tuileries (line 1), Pyramides (lines 7 and 14), Madeleine (lines 8, 12 and 14), National Assembly (line 12) and Miromesnil (lines 9 and 13)
From 12 p.m., “the trains will run without stopping and connections will therefore not be assured” at the Anvers (line 2), Blanche (line 2), Pigalle (lines 2 and 12), Bastille (lines 1, 5 and 8) and Bourse (line 3) stations.
A day of crisis, closely monitored
The demonstrations were placed under close surveillance by the authorities. On the sidelines of this day of mobilizations, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu convened an interministerial crisis unit (CIC), at the level of the chiefs of staff of the Prime Minister, the Minister of the Interior and other members of the government concerned.
In the capital, nearly 80,000 people could take to the streets, with fear of serious “risks of disorder and disturbances to public order”. Convinced that the high school movement should “go back to vacation time” and that the students are “not ready for a generalized uprising, the staffs are therefore on alert
