Police control on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, Sunday March 28 (illustration) – HOUPLINE FOX / SIPA
- A sequence filmed and broadcast on Facebook on Saturday shows three “yellow vests” being fined on the Champs-Elysées.
- According to Stéphanie Poursac, the author of the video contacted by 20 minutes, she and her friends were fined for the sole reason of wearing their distinctive attire outside the official route of the event declared that day.
- Asked by 20 minutes, the police headquarters indicates that an order dated March 23, 2021 prohibited any gathering of people claiming to be part of the “yellow vests” movement on the avenue.
Have sympathizers of the “yellow vests” movement been fined for the sole reason that they were wearing their protest attire on the Champs-Elysées in Paris? This is in any case what suggests a sequence filmed Saturday and broadcast live by the page
Facebook “Syndicat GJ”.
The scene takes place at the bottom of “the most beautiful avenue in the world”, a stone’s throw from an exhibition of the famous “Geluck’s cat”. Three people explain having come to observe the sculptures, after having participated in a declared demonstration of “yellow vests” between the metro stations Bercy and Mirabeau. The woman wears a yellow waistcoat, and the two men who accompany her wear a mask and a scarf in the colors of the movement.
“Demonstrations are prohibited on the Champs-Elysées”, indicates one of the police officers, who invokes a prefectural decree. “But here I am not demonstrating, I am not blocking traffic, I have no megaphone”, opposes the woman, who says she is harassed by the police during of the day of mobilization. The police officer does not want to hear anything and tells the three people that they will be fined and can challenge the fine once received.
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“It’s the same every time. We respect the instructions, we disperse when we are asked to do so, then so-called routine checks are transformed into verbalization, ”denounces Stéphanie Poursac, author of the video and assistant secretary of the GJ Union. Contacted by 20 minutes, she confirms the unfolding of the events she filmed, and explains that she does not understand the reason for her verbalization.
“We were co-declarants of this event, which was approved by the prefecture and in which we participated before going for a walk. We may have been wearing our demonstration outfits but, according to the latest news, it is not forbidden to wear a yellow vest or a yellow scarf in the street, ”notes Stéphanie Poursac.
“A decree dated March 23, 2021 prohibits any gathering of people claiming to be part of the” yellow vests “movement in various places in the capital, including the avenue des Champs-Elysées”, indicate the services of the Paris police headquarters at 20 minutes. “These three people were fined because they wore distinctive signs of sympathizers” yellow vests “,” confirms the PP. The next time you go for a walk in the area, go green.