“Authoritarian drift”, “security turning point”, “freedom-killing law”. Perpignan, Quimper, Guéret, Mulhouse … Processions bringing together several hundred demonstrators marched across France on Saturday. For this last weekend before the end of year celebrations, the troops were fewer than the previous ones to protest against the comprehensive security bill and more generally against the policy of Emmanuel Macron.
In Paris, a few hundred demonstrators gathered in front of the Council of State at the call of the yellow vests, supervised by the police present en masse, before taking the direction of the Pont des Arts.
In Lille, a march saw the convergence of opponents of the Global Security Act and members of the Sélom and Matisse collective, named after two young people who died caught by a train. This collective had called to demonstrate all in black, three years after the facts, to request a reconstruction in order to clarify the role of the police in the drama. The demonstrators were around 500 according to the prefecture.
In Bordeaux, around 200 people, including the figure of the yellow vests movement Jérôme Rodrigues, demonstrated against the “liberticidal laws” and “Macron and his world”.
Rainbow umbrellas in Paris in homage to “Moun”
Overall, no major incident can be reported during this day. The Minister of the Interior did not unveil an assessment of the arrests as he did during previous weekends.
Last Saturday, Gérald Darmanin had described as “breakers” and “ultra-violent” the 124 people arrested during the Paris demonstration. However, nearly two-thirds had finally received a reminder to the law or saw the procedure aimed at them dismissed. After two demonstrations marked by violence with a few dozen “thugs”, the police had changed tactics by intervening throughout the demonstration by “offensive leaps”. Several associations and unions, as well as elected LFI officials, had then denounced “arbitrary arrests”. Among those arrested were at least two journalists.
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This Saturday, many demonstrators wore a multicolored umbrella, in tribute to “Moun”, a fifty-something yellow vest arrested last Saturday in the Parisian demonstration and indicted Tuesday. She is suspected of triggering with her rainbow umbrella the violence attributed to the “black-bloc”, which she disputes.
“We are scandalized to see pacifist comrades who took custody with bogus motives on the pretext that they were in the wrong place”, lamented “Joul”, an activist musician. “We are being put on Stalinist trials, but we do not want to end in a country where there are no longer any rights! He called out, disguised as a bloody rabbit under his yellow vest.
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