For several months now (beginning in November), a group called the Gilets Jaunes have been protesting throughout France. The movement originated over an increase in fuel prices and grew to include other concerns such as the high cost of living, the low minimum wage and the tax burden on the middle class. While many of the high-profile, and violent, protests occurred in Paris there have been many low-key protests in small towns too. Sometimes groups of these protestors would block off toll booth lanes and leave one open where cars could go through without paying the toll.
Many of these protests are planned through social media and this past weekend a major protest was planned in our city. The news that this protest was happening started spreading about a week before, and it was said that people from other cities in France would be coming here to protest. Because this was all occurring through social media, the city had no idea how many people to expect or how violent the situation could become.
The week leading up to the protest was eerily familiar to my days living in hurricane territory (Florida). Offices, city and government buildings, and stores located near the city center were boarding up their windows. Public trash cans were removed (to prevent people from setting them on fire). Offices and stores put up notices that they would be closed on the day of the protest. Supermarkets covered their shelves of alcohol and prohibited the sale of alcohol on the day of the protest. Cars that normally parked along the streets were moved to safer locations in fear of vandalism and the streets were strangely empty.
Saturday arrived and we witnessed our first serious protest. The city center was unusually quiet in the morning. There weren’t many people driving around as the public was warned to avoid the area. The group of protestors started gathering and marching and it wound up being less people than the city expected. It was fairly peaceful for awhile but started to turn violent late in the afternoon. People started fires in trash cans, broke windows to several businesses, pulled up bricks from the street and started throwing them. The police threw smoke bombs to clear crowds and quickly responded to the issues arising so thankfully the damage was minimal.
The next day we took a walk to survey the damage, and although we saw some broken windows here and there, our little city was back to normal….
The Pawlowski's Go To France 