yellow vests

Anger over Covid rules gives new impetus to France's 'Yellow Vests'

France — Link

Last weekend, police estimated that 100,000 people joined protests against new Covid measures - some of them under the banner of the Yellow Vests or 'gilets jaunes'.

France's literary season kicks off with tales of social movements and commitment

Culture et idées — Analysis

There is no way of knowing yet what kind and level of social protests may emerge in France this autumn. But judging by the new books from authors Alice Zeniter, Barbara Stiegler, Émilie Notéris, Sandra Lucbert and Aude Lancelin that have been published at the end of the summer break, one of the themes of the new literary season looks set to be that of political commitment and struggle – and the way in which people get involved. Lise Wajeman looks at a mixture of new fiction and non-fictional accounts of recent social conflicts and workplace disputes in France, and finds that 'hybrid' forms of writing win out over the traditional novel form.

How Macron was accosted by 'yellow vest' protestors during stroll

France — Link

French president told the demonstrators to ‘be cool; there are now calls for increased securoty for the head of state.

Probe opened into video of Paris protestor beaten by police officer

France — Link

Prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation after videos filmed during a 'Yellow Vest' anti-government protest in the French capital on January 18th showed a man with a bloodied head being held down on his back by a helmeted officer, who then strikes him hard in the face.

French trades union and 'Yellow Vests' protests continue over weekend

France — Link

Demonstrations accompanying rolling strikes against pension reforms that began Thursday and the latest 'Yellow Vest' protests against social inequalities were held over the weekend across France, upping pressure on the government ahead of more walkouts and protests called for next week.

French Yellow Vests bite the bullet to stand in local elections

France — Report

This weekend, like every weekend for just more than a year, France’s ‘Yellow Vest’ demonstrators will hold their weekly nationwide protests over social inequalities, the declining living standards of low- and middle-income earners, the jobless and pensioners, against the privileges of the social and political elite, and for a greater participative exercise of democracy. But despite its stamina, many in the eclectic movement, which has no politically organised structure, are seeking a new way forward. In the Vosges département in north-east France, a fiefdom of the Right for decades, a group of 'Yellow Vests' have decided to bite the bullet and stand in local elections due in March 2020, a move that would once have been anathema to them. Mathilde Goanec reports from the Vosges.

The real story behind 'yellow vest' France

Culture et idées

Sociologist Benoît Coquard specialises in the study of the working classes who live in rural areas of France. He has just published a book which rejects many of the old assumptions about France's declining countryside and the supposed isolation of citizens living in 'peripheral' areas around the country's large conurbations cities. As Mediapart's Joseph Confavreux writes, the book also provides valuable insight into the origins of the so-called 'yellow vest' protests which began sweeping France a year ago.

How French police formed a 'war' unit to tackle 'yellow vest' protestors

France — Investigation

Earlier this year Mediapart reported how a 19-year-old woman had her skull fractured by police in Marseille, southern France, as she lay on the ground during a day of demonstrations. The same investigation has now revealed the existence of a new hybrid police unit that was created to take on the so-called 'gilets jaunes' or 'yellow vest' protestors in France. These officers were not trained in public order policing yet the initiative was backed by a memo from the Ministry of the Interior and superior officers who considered that in a time of “war” anything and everything is permissible. Pascale Pascariello reports.

French police officer faces judge over 'yellow vest' violence

France — Link

Court hearing comes days after first anniversary of anti-government rallies, which were marked by clashes with police in Paris last Saturday.

Yellow vest protests marred by violence in Paris

France — Link

Yellow vest demonstrators held marches in towns and cities across France on Saturday, as the social protest movement against falling living standards for low- and middle-income earners marks one year of consecutive weekly action, when the interior ministry claimed a nationwide turnout of about 28,000, the highest since April, while in Paris groups of troublemakers who burned vehicles and attacked commercial property clashed with police in Paris who made more than 120 arrests.

Yellow vests: French social protests to mark first anniversary

France — Link

The nationwide yellow vest (gilet jaune) movement that began in protests against a planned tax hike on fuel and snowballed into widespread weekly anti-elite, anti-government demonstrations protesting living conditions for low- and middle-income earners will reach its first year of continued action this weekend, when a strong turnout is expected in towns and cities across France.

Macron in overseas territory of Réunion amid cost of living protests

France — Link

French president was greeted by a general strike and a crisis situation on Indian Ocean island that hasn't let up over the past 12 months.

'Yellow vest' protestors back on French streets

France — Link

Renewed 'yellow vest' movement demonstrations were held across France on Saturday, in protests againt President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies and in particular over falling living standards for low- and middle-income households, during which clashes erupted in the north-west town of Nantes. 

Macron comments prompt Putin riposte on 'yellow vest' protests

International — Link

At a press conference ahead of their talks at the French President's official retreat on the Mediterranean coast on Monday, Emmanuel Macron tackled Russian President Vladimir Putin on the crackdown on recent opposition protests in Moscow, to which the Russian leader spoke of a toll of deaths and injuries in France's 'yellow vest' protests, adding that, 'We wouldn’t want such events to take place in the Russian capital'. 

The inevitable tragedies as French government turns a blind eye to police violence

France — Opinion

Over the course of recent months, the French government has continued to deny the mounting evidence of unwarranted violent behaviour by police, notably during the rolling ‘yellow vest’ protests when an 80-year-old woman died after being hit by a teargas grenade fired at her window and hundreds of people, both demonstrators and bystanders, have been injured, many seriously. Last month, a 24-year-old man went missing after he fell into the Loire river in Nantes, in north-west France, during a police charge on a group partying to music on a quayside. In this opinion article, Mediapart’s Michaël Hajdenberg argues why, by refusing to condemn the abuses and even lending legitimacy to them, the executive has created a dangerous situation in which further tragic events appear inevitable.