Attack in Strasbourg: political figures are calling for a truce on the part of the "yellow vests".
While conspiracy theories are flourishing in "yellow vest" groups who are denouncing an attack organised by the state, several political figures called on demonstrators on Wednesday 12 December to suspend their movement after the Strasbourg attack.
The Secretary of State for the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, said
he hoped that there would be fewer demonstrations on Saturday for Act V of the "yellow vests", counting on a "general responsibility" of the French, particularly after the attack on Strasbourg.
No national ban on demonstrations has been imposed, he said.
"I hope that we will not have to mobilize so many men simply because there will be a general responsibility in the country that will result in fewer demonstrations or even a lot fewer," he continued.
With the attack on Strasbourg on Tuesday evening, which killed three people and wounded 13,
"the situation has changed substantially but this threat already existed", he said. If the demonstrations were to be as numerous as last Saturday, "we are ready, as we were last Saturday, to be extremely mobile and to make many arrests", he assured.
For her part, the president of the Rassemblement national, Marine Le Pen, assumed that "the yellow vest demonstrations could not take place on Saturday", as France was placed on an "attack emergency" alert. Asked on Wednesday on France 2 about a possible questioning of the mobilisation of the "yellow vests" scheduled for Saturday in the context of the Strasbourg attack, the president of the Rassemblement national replied:
"I suppose that if, in any case, this terrorist alert status is maintained, by definition it includes the ban on demonstrations, so demonstrations cannot take place". "If the minister makes a decision as serious as the one in a democratic country to ban demonstrations, it means, I suppose, that he must have evidence," she added.
"I will not argue about this because I think that the security, in this case, the safety of the French people, must be called into question to take such a serious decision," added the MP for Pas-de-Calais, who recalled on Tuesday that "there is a French Constitution (which) gives the French people rights, including the right to demonstrate".
"We are not there yet. The measure that has been taken today is the ban on demonstrations in Strasbourg only", replied on France Inter Laurent Nuñez. "Since the beginning of the movement, we've been asking yellow vests to officially report their demonstrations," added Mr. Nuñez. "There have been many excesses linked to this lack of report that have prevented us from properly managing these demonstrations," he explained.
Regarding a possible truce in the YV movement, spokesman for the Rassemblement national, Sébastien Chenu, said on Wednesday that it was "difficult" for there to be "French people in the streets, on the roundabouts".
"From the beginning, I have trusted yellow vests and their common sense (...)
The basic problems of yellow vests anyway are not addressed and they will come back no matter what," he said on LCI, noting that "
here we have an absolute urgency which is the fight against terrorism". Recalling that his party supported the demands of the "yellow vests" but had never given instructions, he stressed that he was "not going to give (them) an order to go home or continue to demonstrate".
"EVERYONE MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY"
However, "everyone must take their responsibilities, we must not add any difficulties to the difficulties. If we enter an extremely tense emergency situation in search of a terrorist, I believe it is difficult to mix things up and make sure that there are French people on the streets and on the roundabouts, when the terrorist threat becomes extremely significant and worrying".
As for the vice-president of the Republicains, Damien Abad, he called for a "truce" in the mobilization of the "yellow vests".
"A truce is needed, out of respect for the victims' memory, and because our police forces are mobilized," he said on Sud Radio. For Damien Abad, after the attack, "we need a call for calm and responsibility, and we need a truce because we also need to protect our law enforcement agencies, we need to ensure security", he said, considering that "the French would not understand if our police forces were not fully mobilized on this fight against terrorism".
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