What to expect on Saturday, October 24th

On Monday, the Gilets Jaunes (yellow vests) coordination group officially announced a second round of protests for Saturday, October 24th, under the slogan ‘Macron doit partir‘ (Macron must go).

The calls follow the October 17th protests, which saw unions, lycées students as well as a number of Gilets Jaunes turn out in cities across the country – a day that was marred by violence after extremist groups clashed with police and was followed by widespread looting and vandalism in towns and cities.

So what can we expect on Saturday?

The Gilets Jaunes have an online map that is being updated as new gathering points are confirmed – this lists planned demos in cities, as well as gatherings at roundabouts, petrol stations, fuel depots, railway stations and toll booths.

However it’s worth noting that not all of these will go ahead – the same map also showed widespread roundabout gatherings and fuel blockades for October 17th, while in reality almost all of the action was at demos in the bigger towns and cities.

READ ALSO: Protest violence: Is it safe to come to France this autumn?

The demonstrations, like October 17th’s convergence des luttes, could extend beyond the Gilets Jaunes.

One of France’s major trade unions, the CGT, has called on its 600,000 members to join Saturday’s demonstrations and gatherings peacefully, although it has not yet specified locations in Paris.

High school and university student groups have also called for demonstrations, potentially bringing more students onto the streets after their participation in the October 17th protests.

The National High School Students’ Coordination, which says it brings together spokespeople from schools involved in protests in 27 cities, has also called on “high school students to take to the streets on Thursday, October 22nd” on top of Saturday 24th.

Paris

The two locations currently being discussed for Saturday’s protest in the capital are Place de la République and Place de la Bastille, both in the eastern part of the city.

But at the time of publication, no official starting point or time had been confirmed. The proposed locations appear on the organisers’ map of planned mobilisations, which lists demonstrations and gatherings across France, but the organisers stress that not every event listed is guaranteed to take place or to be authorised.

For example, for the October 17th protest, organisers had initially called for people to gather at Bastille, but the Paris police préfecture banned the gathering there and imposed a route from République to Place de Clichy instead.

Will the demos be allowed to go ahead?

Authorities could impose further restrictions around the planned gathering points, after president Emmanuel Macron said in his TV address that local authorities can impose restrictions “to protect their towns”.

Curfews and bans on protests during certain hours were introduced on Monday night, and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has warned that further measures could continue on Tuesday, depending on local circumstances.

However the right to protest is guaranteed within the French constitution, so local bans may be subject to challenge and could be overturned.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has also said that he intends to uphold the “freedom to demonstrate”, while pointing out that “many people” took to the streets peacefully on Saturday.

The demos will also be tightly policed: “The deployment for Saturday [October 24th] will be massive,” Lecornu said in parliament, acknowledging that the security operation for the protests last weekend had been “too static and not mobile enough.”

READ ALSO: Where in France have curfews been imposed?

What next?

The Gilets Jaunes coordination group has warned that further rounds of protests could follow if the government does not meet their demands.

Social media posts are already mentioning October 31st as a possible date for another mobilisation.

There is also a nationwide  cross-sector strike called by French unions for Thursday, November 5th in protest at planned cost-cutting in the 2027 budget.

We will update this article once we know more, follow the latest protest-related news in our protest section here