What are Yellow Vests 2.0 and what does their protest call on October 31 mean for France and Emmanuel Macron? | Today’s news
France’s yellow vest movement on Saturday (local time) called for new demonstrations on October 31 as the country continues to be rocked by protests and sporadic violence. Organizers called for new rallies and meetings outside parliament and town halls nationwide, condemning President Emmanuel Macron’s “authoritarian shift” and urging citizens to stand up for “public liberties.”
Members of the largely rural yellow vest movement were angry and refused to comply when Paris police ordered a late change to the permitted route for the union-organized march on Saturday, moving it to the outskirts of the capital.
Next Saturday, “we will protest for the freedom to protest and for all our freedoms,” a yellow vest coordinator told reporters in Paris’ Bastille Square, the march’s original starting point.
What is the yellow vest movement?
The Yellow Vest 2.0 (Gilet jaune saison 2) refers to a grassroots French protest movement that first emerged in 2018 against rising fuel taxes and the high cost of living. Unlike traditional French trade unions or political parties, the movement organized spontaneously and gathered extensively in suburban circles. As the name suggests, the protesters were seen wearing highly visible yellow safety vests. According to French law, every motorist must have these vests in their car in case of emergency, so they became a highly visible and universal symbol of distress for working-class people who were completely dependent on cars to get to work and felt abandoned by the city’s political elites.
The Yellow Vest protest officially began on November 17, 2018, when protesters blocked roads. As the days passed, the protests grew in strength and spread across France, with students and other disaffected groups joining them.
What did the Yellow Vests achieve in 2018?
The movement forced President Emmanuel Macron to scrap a planned fuel tax hike and enact billions of euros in economic aid measures. To appease the protesters, Macron also announced a €100 per month increase in the national minimum wage (SMIC), funded by the state, not employers, and his government made overtime tax- and social security-free and called on employers to pay a tax-free annual bonus. His government was also forced to scrap the mandatory increase in social benefits for low-income pensioners who earn less than €2,000 a month.
Yellow vests join student protests
Yellow vest protesters resurfaced last week as they joined student-led demonstrations across France. What began last month as a protest against staff shortages at one high school southeast of Paris has spread across the country, attracting students demanding more funding for education and workers seeking help with soaring fuel and other necessities.
More bad news for Macron
The protests come as incumbent President Emmanuel Macron, who cannot run for a third term in the upcoming 2027 election, faces a drop in support.
According to an Ipsos BVA-Cesi poll, Macron’s approval rating has fallen to 15%, the lowest since he took office in 2017. The protests are also working in favor of Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader of the National Assembly, who currently leads the polls.
