France
Cost of living, schools, yellow vests: 200,000 expected and a route imposed
Some 200,000 protesters are expected this Saturday against the cost of living and for schools; in Paris, the police set the march from République to Place de Clichy.
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Nydal is 23 and has never marched. This Saturday he will take the RER into Paris with his friends. Axel, a medical student in the Val-de-Marne, will join them after his shift at the market, around 2 p.m. The high-school movement planted in them “a little seed”. The authorities expect some 200,000 protesters across France, against the cost of living and for more money for education.
Bastille banned, Clichy imposed
Everyone wanted to start from Bastille. The Paris police banned it on Friday evening and set the route: from République to Place de Clichy, along the Magenta and Barbès boulevards. Gatherings are banned around the Élysée, Matignon and the railway stations: a 135-euro fine.
« It’s now or never »Nydal, 23, who will march for the first time
Who blocks what
Outside Paris, the call for the 17th also plans to disrupt fuel depots and refineries, on top of roundabouts and petrol stations. Firefighters are under a strike notice until 20 October, the day of the budget vote; a strike actually followed on Saturday is not confirmed.
Emmanuel Macron calls for “calm”. The marchers, for their part, mostly call for unity. Can anger without a leader be heard, or does a country need a face before it listens?
Based on RFI, Le Parisien Paris and Courrier international