The Movement of the Yellow Gilets spreads in France, Belgium and Bulgaria

On Saturday 17 November 2018, the “Yellow Gilets” movement sprung to life in metropolitan France and has leapt across waters to the overseas departments and crossed land borders to Belgium and Bulgaria.

The French Minister for Home Affairs thinks that number of demonstrators would have peaked on 18 November at 17.00 at 287 710 people. There is no other available statistic, so we cannot check out this figure. Furthermore, from the time the demonstrators organize guard duty, it takes absolutely no account of mobilization.

While the movement is peaceful, there have been sudden outbursts of violence but we cannot work out who was responsible: the demonstrators or provocateurs. Such incidents have been largely reported by the mainstream media in its attempt to discredit the movement.

In Reunion, a French department and island in the Indian Ocean, curfew had been decreed in 14 out of the 24 communes. The movement is not organized and is building momentum through the Internet. The movement is a revolt against excessive fiscal pressure. It originated in rural areas but has now worked its way into the cities. Most of its members are middle class.

21 November, French National Assembly: former candidate for the 2017 Presidential Election, Jean Lasalle, deliberately violated house rules by wearing a fluorescent yellow gilet during government question time. The President of the Assembly, Richard Ferrand, announced that Jean will be punished for doing so.