The fourth consecutive Saturday of social mobilizations in France registered a significant drop in participation, amid signs of division among the organizers and confrontations with the police in the final stretch. The marches called by unions and student organizations brought together some 146,000 protesters throughout the country, according to the Ministry of the Interior, almost a quarter of those registered on the day of convergence on November 5.
In Paris, some 46,000 protesters walked the route between the Place de la République and Place de la Nation in Paris for the second time in two days. The march proceeded relatively calmly until the moment of the eviction order, answered with the well-known slogans of "We all hate the police" and the firing of tear gas.
For their part, the "yellow vests" decided to stand out with an "unauthorized" rally in the Place de la Concorde that brought together barely a hundred supporters under strict riot control. Despite the first moments of tension, police pressure was enough to practically deactivate the act of "civil disobedience."
"We are going to disobey and we are going to do it in a very symbolic place," anticipated Benjamin Ball, coordinator of the new version of the "gilets jaunes", picking up the baton of the activists who for 484 days in a row kept the forces of order and President Macron in check, blocking squares and roundabouts with their fluorescent vests in protest of the fuel tax.
"Our demands go further this time," warned Ball, who referred to the group's new manifesto: "We want to recover what has been stolen from us: time, money, democracy and our lives. We want to recover our power to live with dignity and freedom. To live, and not just to survive."
Benjamin Ball ended up being arrested before the National Assembly, along with the group's spokesperson Azelma Sigaux and in the face of protests by supporters. "You can't silence us," read the banner waved by a student who identified herself as Lena: "We are here demanding our right to protest; we cannot bow down to this oppressive system."
In an attempt to appease social anger, after 50 days of blockades in institutes and continued protests, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced the holding of a "social conference" on Monday with the participation of employers and unions and with the aim of "presenting concrete responses to the expectations of the French people."
The Minister of the Interior Laurent Nuñez, who even submitted his resignation (not admitted by Macron) after the explosion of violence and looting on October 17 that resulted in more than 2,400 detainees, on Saturday issued orders to the prefectures to dissolve "spontaneous" and previously unauthorized demonstrations, given a foreseeable change in strategy by the organizers.
Although the confrontations with the police have decreased in recent days, criticism against police repression has increased after the recent attacks against journalists, who attend the marches equipped almost like war reporters, with helmets and gas masks.
The Agence France-Presse denounced on Friday "the violence committed by the police against its journalists during the demonstrations." On Thursday, an agency photographer identified by his bracelet suffered a fractured fibula and received five blows (three of them on his helmet) in a police charge. On October 17, another journalist from the agency was hit in the thigh with a rubber bullet in Lille. That same day, a video journalist was deliberately attacked with a water cannon in Paris.
The organization Reporters Without Borders has documented up to 58 cases of journalists who have had their work hindered in demonstrations, 35 of them with "physical violence", 21 of which were carried out by law enforcement forces (and the rest by protesters).
