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.

Translation
Anoosha Boralessa