Yellow Vest Supporters Gather For May Day Demonstration In Paris

PARIS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st May, 2021) Supporters of Yellow Vest movement on Saturday have gathered for a May Day demonstration in Paris, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the scene.

May Day demonstrations, which did not take place in 2020 over the COVID-19 pandemic, are held across France on Saturday.

Yellow Vest activists gathered at 10:00 a.m. (08:00 GMT) at Square du Marechal Juin. The procession, surrounded by a dense ring of police officers, is moving toward Republic Square, where a general demonstration starts at 12:00 GMT.

The situation is currently calm.

French authorities estimate that about 100,000 people will take part in some 300 demonstrations across France on Saturday.

The Yellow Vest protests started in France in late 2018 in response to rising fuel prices and grew to a series of violent demonstrations calling for various economic reforms. Even after the government surrendered to the protesters' demands and abandoned fuel tax rise, people continued flooding the streets, demanding an increase in wages, higher pensions and even the resignation of Emmanuel Macron, whom the protesters repeatedly dubbed as "the president of the rich."