For over a week, huge nocturnal protest gatherings have spread across France, rising in number and which must by now, be starting to panic the government.
Among those gathered are parents with babies, students, workers, artists and pensioners…..
Common Dreams report:
BYPASS THE CENSORS
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A police crackdown will not deter France’s burgeoning Nuit Debout (or ‘Up All Night’) movement that has swept across the country in recent weeks as the unifying call for change sparked protests in over 50 cities this weekend.
Riot police early Monday cleared the encampment in the Place de la Republique in central Paris after 11 nights of protest, but demonstrators have vowed to maintain their nightly vigil.
Demonstrations this weekend were held in as many as 60 cities and towns across France as well as in Belgium, Germany, and Spain, according to reports, as an estimated 120,000 protested against austerity, globalization, increasing inequality, privatization, and the continent’s severe anti-migrant policies.
This is what democracy looks like! Thousands in the general assembly #NuitDebout #paris discussing social justice. pic.twitter.com/yHPS0Mn9qH
— Take the square (@takethesquare) April 10, 2016
This photo of #NuitDebout protests in Paris blows my mind! Next week London.. https://t.co/gCQMR6UfIb #CameronResign pic.twitter.com/JVMOvHXwqK
— Joel Benjamin (@Gian_TCatt) April 9, 2016
La foule grandit à la #NuitDebout de #Bordeaux, mais on vous fera de la place.#40mars pic.twitter.com/0D6JTnisPG
— Nuit Debout (@nuitdebout) April 9, 2016
What began as a rebuke of the state’s anti-labor policies has grown into a nation-wide pro-democracy movement that has been likened to the Indignados movement in Spain, or the Occupy protests in the United States.
Niamh Harris