Protests in France continue but record lower participation

BarcelonaThe protests in France continue. For the fifth consecutive Saturday, tens of thousands of French people have returned to the streets to protest against the rising cost of living and in defense of public services. This Saturday, however, the lowest participation since the mobilizations began in the country on October 17 has been recorded, which ended in serious riots, including the looting of shops.

Specifically, a total of 106,000 people demonstrated this Saturday in more than fifty mobilizations called across the country, of which 24,000 did so in Paris, according to the authorities. On the other hand, the student inter-union has raised the total participation to 200,000, and almost half in the capital.

The figures are clearly lower than those of previous calls, according to the authorities: last Saturday a total of 146,000 protesters participated; on October 31, 320,000; on October 24, 410,000; and on the 17th, 550,000.

“There is a whole people rising up and saying to the governments and the billionaires they serve: enough!”, proclaimed this Saturday, from the Parisian Place de la République, the main spokesperson for the yellow vests, Benjamin Ball. According to him, the movement is not exhausting itself, a view also shared by the leaders of the student inter-union.

In general, the demonstrations have passed calmly this Saturday, although some incidents have occurred in Nantes and Lyon, and security forces have used riot control material. Disturbances have also been recorded at the end of the march in Paris.

Desperation of the merchants

The Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, has maintained a maximum police presence this Saturday, with 70,000 officers deployed. Even so, merchants believe that the continuous mobilizations are financially sinking them. “It is a really serious situation for commerce; we are killing local businesses in Paris,” denounced Franck Delvau this Saturday, president of the UMIH for the Paris region, the main organization of independent professionals in the hospitality, restaurant, and nightlife sectors in the Paris region.

Joining the protests against the rising cost of living and the defense of public services this Saturday were demonstrations with two other demands. One against the draft law on the presumption of self-defense for law enforcement officers – their detractors believe it will give officers the “right to kill” – and the other to denounce violence against childhood and adolescence, including sexual, psychological, educational, and economic violence.