FRANCE LATEST:  YELLOW VESTS PROTESTS REGENERATE ACROSS FRANCE, POLICE SAY 50-THOUSAND FOR ACT 8

"Once again extreme violence has come to attack the Republic...."

French President Emmanuel Macron on Twitter following Act 8 of Yellow Vests Protest 1/5/2019

The police in France officially are saying some 50-thousand protested this Saturday in the country, up from 32-thousand last Saturday.

Peaceful processions in many cities and towns across the country throughout the day.

35-hundred protesters were identified in Paris by the police.  34 arrests reported there at the end of the day as there were confrontations between protesters and police.   Fires were set in a few locations.

Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner described the protests as "more urban" meaning fewer road blockages on highways or at oil refineries.    The highway blockages have often been centered at toll booths operated by private companies given concessions to run highways in France.

Castaner spoke of incidents at city halls and town halls across France where protesters tried to enter.

But these situations appear to be few and far between.

A pallet pulling machine was seized today and rammed into the gates at the office of the man who speaks for President Emmanuel Macron's government, Benjamin Griveaux.    Griveaux and his associates left through the back door.

The Secretary of State for the Ministry of the Interior, Laurent Nunez, decried the conduct of Yellow Vests protesters saying that while Yellow Vests protests start well they:

"always end with violence driven by seditious, factious"

Regarding next Saturday's Act 9 of protest, Nunez said:

"we will not lower the guard in front of the totalitarianism"

(COMMENT AND ANALYSIS)


To sum up the situation today, a regenerated protest movement spread out across the country in cities and towns.   Processions in Paris and some other places instead of static protesting everywhere, although in many cities and towns groups gathered at one location.

Protesters calling on President Emmanuel Macron to resign and for signatures for RIC (Constitutional Referendum Initiative) that would force the National Assembly to draft a law for approval in a referendum.

Last month, the "Free Yellow Vests" group warned against being drawn into the trap of staying in a cage-like setting on the Champs-Elysees with riot police being the "animal trainers".

It looks like their thinking has asserted itself.

The government put out tough statements about violence and extremism, but there was much less evidence of that in today's protest.

The fact that the police did not make massive arrests today would seem to attest to that.   They could find the Yellow Vests doing nothing to justify arrests on the scale of past Saturday's.

The government will continue its propaganda campaign against the Yellow Vests.   One leader, Sophie, said through the megaphone today in Paris there will be protests every Saturday in 2019.

Its wintertime now and one wonders if the numbers on the streets pick up as the weather warms up later in the year.

(UPDATED AND EXPANDED INTO SATURDAY EVENING)

(INFORMATION FROM BFM-TV VIA GOOGLE TRANSLATION CONTRIBUTED TO THIS POST)