“The balance sheet of Emmanuel Macron has been visible on the streets of France for 27 weeks now,” noted Marine Le Pen, as she was heading to Milan for a meeting with other leaders of European sovereignist political parties on Saturday.
Yellow Vest demonstrators took to the streets for Act XXVII of their movement. According to the Minister of the Interior, 2 800 people were demonstrating in France at 2 pm, including 1 100 in Paris.
For the whole day, the Place Beauvau registered 15 500 demonstrators, including 1 600 in Paris. However, according to the Yellow Number, mobilization in France amounted to 40 500 participants.
According to FranceInfo, national calls had been launched in Nancy and Reims. In Paris, an event on Facebook called for “[regaining] the right to protest on the Champs-Elysees”. A ban on any event in the area is still in place, but also around the National Assembly and Notre-Dame de Paris.
Many metro stations were also closed at 7:00 in the capital, because of the social movement: George-V, Tuileries, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Concord, Champs-Elysees Clemenceau, Invalides, Miromesnil, National Assembly, Varenne and Charles de Gaulle Etoile.
Finally, at the end of the day, FranceInfo reported that marchers were present in Reims (Marne), Nancy (Lorraine), Toulouse (Haute-Garonne), Lyon (Rhône), Besançon (Doubs), Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique ) or Amiens (Somme).
In Reims, ” a 50-year-old woman was wounded and transported to the CHU with a slight wound to the head”. FranceInfo cited a statement issued by the prefecture of the Marne. The same source said that the protester told the firefighters that she had “run away during a CRS charge before falling”.
As a reminder, Emmanuel Macron remarked without irony, while visiting Biarritz on Friday: “I believe that those who continue today to do this, have no other political outlet.” And he added: “We did our share of the work, I think that now, everyone must go to vote in the elections.”
Last week, on Saturday, May 11, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior, 18 600 people had demonstrated in France. The Yellow Vests had estimated that number at 37 500, slightly lower than this weekend.
Les gilets jaunes aux Molieres pic.twitter.com/ZhxEZzIaTn
— Hicham Fassi Fihri (@hichamFassiFihr) May 13, 2019
Last week, twenty Yellow Vests interrupted the ceremony of the Molières Awards on Monday, May 13, reported FranceInfo , but the scene was not visible on television as France 2 edited out the sequence for television viewers.
The room certainly did not expect such an intervention, interrupting the master of ceremonies Alex Vizorek and challenging the Minister of Culture Franck Riester, present in the audience.
“Franck Riester, we give you Molière of dishonor because you participate in this great party and at the same time, you cut the budget of culture everywhere,” said one of those present. “Technicians, professionals and artists present tonight, do not look at us, join us, the power of the people, by the people, for the people,” said a protester.
The Molière Award recognises achievement in live French theatre and is the national theatre award of France, supported by the French Ministry of Culture at an annual ceremony, called the Nuit des Molières in Paris.
According to FranceInfo, applause was heard in the audience and the humorist Blanche Gardin rose to respond to their intervention. As photos posted on Twitter show, the demonstrators in attendance displayed a banner asking for “unemployment rights for all”. They then left the room chanting slogans hostile to Emmanuel Macron.
Only the people present at the ceremony were able to see the scene because France 2 took the decision to edit out the sequence. Quoted by FranceInfo, a spokesman for the channel says that this decision was made for the sake of “control over the antenna” as the Yellow Vests had acted without authorization.
“They were able to speak to the Minister of Culture but they took the antenna hostage,” added the channel.