Yellow Vest Demonstrators turned out for ‘Act 23’ of protests and the first demonstration since a massive fire destroyed most of the Notre Dame cathedral.
The Yellow Vests or ‘Gilets Jaunes’ are reporting more than 98,000 people took to the streets across the country. Police showed their usual brutality this weekend- with tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets and high powered water cannons used against protesters.
60,000 police and gendarmes were deployed across the country on Saturday. Hundreds of people were arrested, hundreds more injured and, reportedly, over 20,000 searches were carried out by law enforcement.
Yellow Vest protesters have been appalled at the urgent national and international fundraising for repairs to the beloved Notre Dame cathedral. With 23 weeks of protests, a financial embrace has not been seen for the poor and working class people of France. They are met with batons, institutionalized violence and increasingly desperate living conditions, while the rich of France rally around a centuries old structure and raise billions of dollars overnight.
“We are all cathedrals,” was written on one protester’s sign.
Photo: “Les Gilets Jaunes” by Patrice CALATAYU is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.
**Correction: updated the number of people who participated in demonstrations this weekend.**
ANARCHIMEDIA 