The Gilets Jaunes are back. A few of them, anyway. And 25 clusters of Covid-19 cases have been identified in France since lockdown was lifted, although the situation does still seem to be improving.
A few hundred Yellow Vests appeared on the streets of several French cities on Saturday, apparently just to remind the government that they’re still there.
Montpellier : 150 manifestants dont des gilets jaunes se rassemblent malgré l'interdiction du Préfet https://t.co/9ujFPv4PSp pic.twitter.com/BiadFNVaNg
— France 3 Occitanie (Toulouse) (@France3MidiPy) May 16, 2020
The biggest assembly, which wasn’t that big, seems to have been down south, in Montpellier. Others were in the Breton capital, Nantes, which can always be relied on for a protest whenever the possibility arises, Lyon, Toulouse, and Saint-Nazaire.
With demonstrations banned, some gathered in groups of 10, the legal limit of an assembly under the anti-Covid state of emergency. That didn’t stop police being considerably tougher on them than US cops have been on the armed lockdown-defiers there.
There were a number of arrests and police used their truncheons against the crowd in Montpellier, one woman being injured in the head.
In Bordeaux and Toulouse (see below), shopkeepers took the demonstrators to task for defying the lockdown and obstructing trade in these straitened times.
Les gilets jaunes se font virer par les commerçants de Toulouse ✌️
— Lilly (@lillyandthepics) May 16, 2020
"On en marre des gilets jaunes" !! #giletsjaunes #Toulouse pic.twitter.com/I8QtXwcsKS
Business was also on Interior Minister Christophe Castaner’s mind, as he reminded the public of the demo ban.
“In this period when we must help economic recovery and a form of liberty for our fellow citizens,” he said. “People who want to obstruct commercial activity have to understand that this is not the moment to express oneself in this way.”
Twenty-five new clusters of the virus have been identified in France since the end of lockdown, Health Minister Olivier Véran has told the Journal du Dimanche.
New cases were to be expected, he said, and the only part of France where there has been a resurgence so far is in Mayotte, an overseas territory in the Indian Ocean. (Yes, it’s part of France, as are French Guiana in South America, New Caledonia and French Polynesia in the Pacific, and several other Dom-Toms, as they’re called.)
Following Macron’s mea culpa in a hospital this week, Véran promised a consultation and review of the government’s health policy and pay rises for healthworkers, on top of the bonuses that have already been decided on.
France’s Covid-19 death toll now officially stands at 27,625, 96 in the last 24 hours. 19,432 people are in hospital, down 429, with 2,132 in intensive care, down 71. 61,066 people have been discharged from hospital, down 618 yesterday.
