Act XXII: Yellow Vests participation higher than government estimates
According to estimates by the French Interior Ministry, some 31 000 Yellow Vest protesters gathered for the 22nd consecutive Saturday, counting at least 5 000 participants in Paris. But the numbers were much higher said protesters.
Published: April 14, 2019, 9:47 am
Toulouse and Paris were the main meeting places on Saturday, April 13, for Act XXII of the ongoing protest. The numbers cited by Ministry of the Interior, as reported by BFMTV, were disputed however.
The announcements by Beauvau are regularly criticised by the demonstrators, who have for their part given a provisional figure of 80 504 people. The police prefecture announced 27 arrests and 9 473 preventive checks in Paris in the early evening.
The procession in the French capital joined the march for “Freedom to Protest” from Place de la Républic, organized by several groups.
A major demonstration by the Yellow Vests was also held in Toulouse this Saturday. As reported by Le Figaro, clashes occurred in the early afternoon between the police and some demonstrators.
An hour after the beginning of their mobilization, the Yellow Vests found themselves facing barriers erected by the police on the route of the march. According to LCI, tensions also occurred at the end of the demonstration in the city, where 23 people were arrested in the city center for allegedly throwing projectiles, degrading buildings and carrying weapons.
According to Le Figaro, in the early afternoon the police then used tear gas and stun grenades to reduce the scope of mobilisation of the protesters. Some people remained stationed in front of the roadblocks and projectiles were fired at the security forces.
The newspaper noted that a construction machine was burned. According to France Bleu Occitanie, a protester was injured in clashes with the police. Toulouse was the main rallying point of Yellow Vests on Saturday with some protesters calling on social networks to “take over” the Capitol Square.
According to La Dépêche du Midi more than 800 police and gendarmes were deployed while the mayor of the city had declared himself “rather worried”.
In the rest of France, mobilisations were planned in Marseille, Grenoble and Lille. The police headquarters had issued a decree forbidding the gathering of Yellow Vests on the Champs-Elysees and in the surrounding area. In the capital, the route mapped out was Boulevard Diderot, in the 12th arrondissement.
The president of Debout France meanwhile estimated that the protest movement should be translated into “measures”.
Even if the ongoing mobilisation of recent months has weakened, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan remains hopeful about the future of the movement. When asked if he would wear a Yellow Vest on the weekend, the leader of the conservative party replied “always”.
But the head of the list in the European elections clarified his support: “There have been no measures taken to reward France for the merits of working, for the retirees who have worked hard all their lives and are robbed,” he said, adding that the movement must “have a political translation”.
“The challenge is to provide solutions,” he said. Therefore, for the MP from Essonne, the measures should be simple: the reindexing of pensions “to match inflation” and a VAT “at zero for products of first necessity”.
In an interview with Le Figaro, the Speaker of the Senate Gerard Larcher meanwhile said that Emmanuel Macron “will have no second chance” for “the second act of his quinquennium”.
Macron is in trouble because the French voters expect concrete answers to the current social crisis.
Larcher saluted “our fellow citizens who participated with great sincerity and responsibility”. But according to him, Macron will not be able to deliver any answers except for “only cosmetic or purely institutional” responses.
Questioned by the daily on how Emmanuel Macron should govern, the Senate president said that “his mission today is primarily to rebuild confidence”.
Confidence “between the French and the elected officials, the government, the officials, the unions but above all … in himself, because a lot of resentment has been focused on him”.
All rights reserved. You have permission to quote freely from the articles provided that the source (www.freewestmedia.com) is given. Photos may not be used without our consent.
Consider donating to support our work
Help us to produce more articles like this. FreeWestMedia is depending on donations from our readers to keep going. With your help, we expose the mainstream fake news agenda.
Keep your language polite. Readers from many different countries visit and contribute to Free West Media and we must therefore obey the rules in, for example, Germany. Illegal content will be deleted.
If you have been approved to post comments without preview from FWM, you are responsible for violations of any law. This means that FWM may be forced to cooperate with authorities in a possible crime investigation.
If your comments are subject to preview by FWM, please be patient. We continually review comments but depending on the time of day it can take up to several hours before your comment is reviewed.
We reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, contain slander or foul language, or are irrelevant to the discussion.
NOAA Predicts Zero Sunspots for Almost the Whole 2030s
CLIMATEThe United States' government scientific organization, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), predicts zero sunspots from 2031 to 2040. This is an extreme situation that has not occurred in as long as humanity has been counting sunspots, and it leads us into uncharted territory in terms of our solar system. However, this prediction aligns with the warnings of the world-renowned solar researcher Valentina Zharkova for many years, who indicated in 2019 various signs of this catastrophic phenomenon, including the extreme hailstorms we have seen in Europe and the world this summer. The forecast and various observations this year give cause for very significant concern. In this unique analysis, Free West Media explains why.
European Nationalist Parties Forge Cooperation Ahead of EU Elections
EUROPEAN ELECTIONSOn Saturday, August 26, representatives of six European nationalist parties gathered in Budapest. The meeting was initiated by the Hungarian party Mi Hazánk and took place in the national parliament. Representatives of the parties signed a joint declaration that not only reaffirms the parties' friendship but also their unity on a range of complex political issues. A surprisingly clear and radical manifesto was established. The hope is that this cooperation will lead to success in the EU elections and eventually result in the formation of a group in the European Parliament. For Swedish nationalism, this meeting marks a success as Sweden, for the first time, has a party represented in a leading nationalist cooperation in Europe. Free West Media was present at this historic event.
Turkey Believes Sweden Hasn’t Done Enough
Sweden will have to wait a bit longer for NATO membership, according to Turkey's Justice Minister Jilmaz Tunc. First, Sweden must extradite the "terrorists" Turkey wants and stop the desecration of the Quran.
Swedish Weapon Takes Down Russia’s Best Attack Helicopter
The Russian attack helicopter Ka-52 is considered one of the world's best and has struck fear in Ukraine, where it has hunted down tanks and other armored vehicles, often beyond the range of many light anti-aircraft systems. However, it has met its match in the Swedish air defense missile system RBS 70, which has quickly led to significant losses for the Russian helicopter forces.
Strong Confidence in German AfD
Alternative for Germany (AfD) held a party conference on July 29-30 to select candidates for the upcoming EU election next year. EU Parliament member Maximilian Krah, belonging to the party's more radical, ethnonationalist faction, was appointed as the top candidate. The party's two spokespersons delivered powerful speeches criticizing the EU's failed migration policy and trade sanctions that isolate Europe and Germany from the rest of the world. They argued that it's time for the EU to return a significant portion of its power to national parliaments. However, they have dropped the demand for Germany to exit the EU.
The Establishment Wants to Ban Germany’s Second Largest Party – for the Sake of Democracy
The rising popularity of AfD has raised strong concerns within the establishment. Despite lies and demonization in the media and isolation from the overall political establishment, the party continues to grow. Certain representatives of the party are accused of becoming increasingly "extreme," and in an unusual move, the influential weekly newspaper Der Spiegel demanded that AfD be "banned."
Dutch FvD break through the media blockade
What is happening in the Netherlands? It is often difficult to follow events in other countries, especially when distorted by system media. We give Forum for Democracy (FvD) the opportunity to speak out on the political situation in the Netherlands and the staunch resistance they face in trying to save the country.
The Ursula von der Leyen Affair
After a criminal complaint in Belgium against the President of the European Commission, the so-called SMS-case, now takes a new turn. The judge responsible for the investigation will likely gain access to the secret messages exchanged between Ursula von der Leyen and Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, at least if they haven't been deleted.
Publisher of Unique Literature Worldwide Blocked by International Distributor
Arktos has distinguished itself by publishing groundbreaking philosophers and social critics. Now, the publisher's international distributor has abruptly terminated the cooperation, and more than 400 already printed titles cannot reach their audience. There is strong evidence that the distributor has been under pressure, something that has also happened in Sweden. We have spoken with Arktos founder Daniel Friberg about the ongoing struggle for freedom of speech in a shrinking cultural corridor.
Care prompts bishops to criticize transgender ideology
The Catholic bishops of the Scandinavian countries presented an open five-page letter criticizing transgender ideology on March 21, just before Easter. The document primarily expresses care and advice and was read aloud in Catholic churches in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland. Cardinal Anders Arborelius, Bishop of Stockholm, is one of the signatories of the document.