Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

LYON

VIDEO: Pitched battle between opposing ‘yellow vests’ in Lyon

Opposing groups of yellow vest protestors — believed to be from the far-right and from the far-left — locked in a face-to-face battle in Lyon on Saturday, judging by videos posted on social media.

Published: 10 February 2019 09:34 CET
VIDEO: Pitched battle between opposing 'yellow vests' in Lyon
A yellow vest protestor in Lyon on Saturday, not to our knowledge involved in the street fight. Photo: Alex Martin/AFP
The French internet publication Lies Breaker posted a video shot from above showing the two groups taunting each other, throwing bangers and other objects, and then joining together in conflict. 
 
It was uncertain which side was which, or what was behind the conflict. The video had already been watched 670,000 times by Sunday morning.
 
The confrontation was also captured by other citizen journalists. Damien Rieu, who describes himself on his Twitter account as a “whistleblower” and whose feed criticises Islamist groups, posted a mobile phone footage of the confrontation shot through a shop window. 
 
“I’ve never seen this in my life. It’s a civil war,” someone, perhaps Rieu, exclaims. “It’s serious. It’s a sadness.” 
 
 
Some commentators on Twitter argued that it was inevitable that there would be fractures in the unlikely coalition that makes up the protest movement, which has the blessing of both Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally party and Jean-Luc Mélénchon, leader of the far-left La France Insoumise movement.