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Yellow vest anniversary protests: The parts of Paris you might want to avoid on Saturday

The Local France
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Yellow vest anniversary protests: The parts of Paris you might want to avoid on Saturday
Photo: AFP

Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of the 'yellow vest' protest movement and there will be demonstrations across France, but particularly in Paris. Here's where the protests are set to take place.

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The 'yellow vest' leaders hope that the one-year anniversary of the protest will revitalise a movement that has been struggling to attract supporters in recent weeks.

How much disruption they can cause of course depends on how many people turn up, which is difficult to predict.

READ ALSO ANALYSIS: Will Macron really 'tremble' at yellow vest anniversary? I doubt it

But if you're in Paris and want to avoid protests, which often create transport disruption, these are the areas where we know that things will be happening.

Place Franz Liszt -Bastille - Place d'Italie

This march is an officially declared route that has been approved by the police. The marchers will meet at Place Franz Liszt at 10am in the 10th arrondissement and march south to Place d'Italie, expecting to arrive at about 2pm.

Porte de Champerret - République - Austerlitz

Another officially declared march meets at 8.30am at the Porte Champerret on the outskirts of the city. Marchers will set off at 11am and skirt around the northern and western parts of Paris before arriving in Austerliz in the 13th arrondissement.

Large sections of the city are off limits to all demonstrations and these include the areas around some of the major tourist sites such as Notre-Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and the Jardin du Luxembourg.

Arc de Triomphe

The two marches above are officially authorised, but there were other protests planned that did not get permission from the police. 

One of these was on the Champs-Elysées, which has been off limits to protesters since some of them smashed up shops and torched restaurants in March. Instead, organisers say they will hold an Operation Escargot - a rolling roadblock - at the Arc de Triomphe roundabout at the top of the Champs-Elysées.

Périphérique

Another unauthorised one, so it may not happen, but 'yellow vest' leader Eric Drouet has called for a blockade of the Paris ringroad starting from 10am.

Shops

Not all shops of course, but one group has called for a peaceful occupation of certain 'temples of consumption' Among the shops named in Facebook groups are the Ikea store in Madeleine, Carrefour at Porte d'Auteuil, Nike at Forum des Halles, H&M  at Rue La Fayette, an Apple store and a Total whose locations have not been revealed.

The Metro

Usually when there are protests going on, certain Metro stations are closed. The lines usually keep running, but the trains go straight through the closed stations.

The RATP transport chiefs says that, by order of Paris police, some 23 Metro and RER stations will be closed from 7am on Saturday.

Trains will not stop at the stations and passengers won't be able to change onto different lines.

Line 1 is particularly hit with the following stations closed: Tuileries, Argentine, Georges V, Champs-Élysées-Clémenceau, Charles de Gaulle-Étoile, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Concorde.

Line 2 will be closed between Porte Dauphine and Courcelles and Line 6 between Trocadéro et Charles de Gaulle-Étoile. The station Charles de Gaulle-Étoile will be closed on both of these lines.

Services on Line 13 wont be stopping at Champs-Élysées-Clémenceau, Invalides, Miromesnil and Varenne.

Line 9 services wont be stopping at Franklin D. Roosevelt, Havre-Caumartin, Saint-Augustin, Saint-Philippe du Roule, Iéna, Alma-Marceau and Miromesnil.

The stations Concorde, Opéra et Invalides will also be closed on line 8.

RER A services will not stop at the stations Auber and Charles de Gaulle Etoile and RER C trains will not be stopping at Pont d'Alma, Invalides, Tour Eiffel and Champs de Mars.

You can click here to get up to date information on station closures

 

 

 

 

 

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