Two months before the presidential election, the high cost of living rekindles the anger of “yellow vests”

“It’s sure it won’t be Macron”: three years after the start of their movement, “yellow vests” have begun to reform in Saint-Brieuc. Angry at the high cost of living, they would like a candidate for the Elysée who takes up their demands.

This winter morning, there are about fifteen of them at the Brézillet roundabout, a vast humpbacked median which serves this hilly area of ​​the bay of Saint-Brieuc.

It is 10:30 a.m. and, in the deserted car park of the small shopping center which houses an Asian restaurant and a “drive pizza”, the temperatures are cool, but they are still there, dressed in yellow and wearing red caps, a nod to the Breton movement which had brought down the eco-tax in 2013.

Every Saturday since October, the ritual is immutable, we take out banners and placards. Moment of camaraderie, we tickle the latecomers, the time for a cigarette, before walking towards the roundabout.

“Purchasing power”, “price of fuel and basic necessities”, “living off your salary”: the demands have not changed, the demonstrators want to educate motorists.

A legitimate struggle, according to Tristan Lozach, is the figure of the “yellow vests” from Briochins. Like the anti-pass convoy that drove through Paris on Saturday. “We can only support it”, he says, “because it does not remain fixed on the health claim but is broader, in particular on the purchasing power”.

– “Freedom does not inject” –

The appeal of “People’s Power 22”, of November 17, 2018, is him. Employed at the “Coop des masks”, created during the Covid-19 pandemic, Tristan Lozach, married and father of three children, travels 80 km round trip for his work and spends 250 euros per month on gasoline.

“We want people to believe that it’s in the street that we can make things happen”, explains the 29-year-old activist, square glasses and yellow vest printed with photomontages of President Macron.

Presidential 2022: the poverty rate in France (AFP / Kenan AUGEARD)

“Freedom does not inject itself”: “You can film!” Exclaims a woman, brandishing a sign in front of AFP journalists. Covid, vaccination pass, the discussions go astray, an activist beats the recall.

“Luxury product fuel”: a fluorescent yellow banner is hung at the entrance to the intersection. Immediate effect, motorists respond with a concert of horns.

Galvanized, the only demonstrator in the group blocks the way to a driver by waving two middle fingers. The car stops dead.

“We don’t give up!” exclaims an activist with his fist raised. “We’re going to smash everything,” adds the young motorist, before leaving.

Joël Réveille, 65, has not forgotten November 17, 2018. The heart of this former method agent in the army, with an imposing build and laughing eyes, warms when he recounts these “three days” when they were “up to 40,000” on the roundabout and the nearby Langueux shopping area.

– “A united France” –

That day 4,500 people, according to the prefecture, converged on the ZAC. A snail operation, demonstrators on the RN12, tires and pallets on fire and, to control the situation, the police who use tear gas… Reviewing the images in his living room, Tristan Lozach admits having been outmoded.

“It was emblematic, it was our HQ”, remembers Joël Réveil full of pride. “Upstairs, we had set up cabins. People were sleeping on them. And then it was destroyed by the police. We weren’t allowed to be there.”

French household spending (AFP/Cléa PÉCULIER)

Nico, 42, forklift operator, has a bitter taste. He blames the media who “broke the movement” and “only showed the violence” of “Act III” in Paris on December 1, 2018.

While part of the group occupies the roundabout, others discuss the presidential election.

“I will go to vote, it is our only weapon”, explains Joël. For Jean (first name changed), 65, “for the moment there are far too many candidates. But it is sure that it will not be Macron”, slips this former executive of the SNCF. He would like “the abolition of 49.3” (which allows adoption without a vote in Parliament), “popular juries” to make decisions in the ministries, a counting of the blank vote, sanctions for absent parliamentarians and a candidate “without saucepans”.

“In 2022, I would like a united France” who “lives off his salary and a president who does not see only through Paris”, abounds Tristan Lozach who will vote “against Macron”. “But don’t assume that I will vote for the extremes.”

© 2022 AFP

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