Several hundred people responded to the national call of the movement of "yellow vests" to demonstrate in Lille Saturday, for a 67th Saturday of tense mobilization which gave rise to at least ten arrests. Nearly 700 people, according to the prefecture, took part in the rally, which started in the early afternoon at Place de la République, near the city center.
In the crowd were demonstrators, mostly from Hauts-de-France, but also from the Paris region or even from the Var. Beside the "yellow vests", many people dressed in black, their faces hidden, joined the movement.
The demonstration quickly gave rise to overflows when activists tried to follow the desired route, towards the city center, prohibited by a prefectural decree of the day before, and refused to follow the route imposed by the police. .
The departmental director of Public Security (DDSP) of the North, Jean-François Papineau, deplored to AFP that " hostile individuals [...] have not stopped committing degradations, in the direction of urban furniture, and repeatedly attacked the police with projectile jets . " The police used tear gas and de-encirclement grenades.
" The police intervened to disperse the hostile groups several times and made nine arrests, which resulted in police custody, and one arrest, which gave rise to an identity check ," he added.
"Reduce visibility"
" It was important to show our mobilization, that we are waiting for answers that have not come for fifteen months, " said Faouzi Lellouche, figure of the movement, present in the procession, who expressed the " frustration " of the demonstrators of not being able follow the route originally filed.
" The first route was three hours and 8 to 10 kilometers, and the one imposed on us by the prefecture was one hour and three kilometers, " said David Libeskind, lawyer at the Paris bar and defender of "yellow vests". " It is a way of reducing the visibility of" yellow vests "and an attack on the freedom to demonstrate, which create tensions and violence. "
Before the demonstration, Jérôme Rodriguez, another figure in the movement, was arrested during an identity check, which led to some scuffles. He was released in the afternoon. " It's targeted and free, it's just to dissuade and create tension, " said Faouzi Lellouche.
