Activist Eric Drouet accused of organizing protest without getting authorities’ permission.
Yellow Jackets activist Eric Drouet, who has emerged as a leading figure in the French anti-government movement, was arrested in Paris on Wednesday evening, according to national media reports.
Drouet, a truck driver, is accused of the “organization of an event without prior notification” for an event that took place in the French capital that night, French prosecutors said.
Drouet was detained near the Champs-Elysées, where a few dozen activists gathered at his instigation, Le Figaro reported.
Police also detained Drouet last month during Yellow Jackets protests for carrying an unauthorized weapon — a baton — and being part of a group seeking to commit violence or cause damage.
The Yellow Jackets, named for the fluorescent clothing worn by protesters, emerged as a mass movement last year due to anger over a planned hike in fuel tax. The movement quickly morphed into a vehicle for more general opposition to President Emmanuel Macron and his government. Six people have died and hundreds have been injured since the protests began in November.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon in yellow vest Eric Drouet: “May this year be yours”
French Left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon tweeted shortly after Wednesday’s arrest:
“Eric Drouet arrested again. Why? Abuse of power. A politicized police targeting and harassing the leaders of the Yellow Jackets movement.”
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Mélenchon subsequently demanded the release of Drouet in another tweet.
Éric Drouet again arrested. Why ? Abuse of power. A target Political Police and now harass the animators of the yellow vest movement.
#GiletsJaunes
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In a message published Monday on Facebook, Jean-Luc Mélenchon is delighted with the “citizen revolution” of yellow vests, “one of the best things that has happened to us for so long”. He also compares Eric Drouet, one of the leaders of the movement, to an eponymous revolutionary, figure 1791.
Mélenchon compares Drouet to the revolutionary of 1791
About Eric Drouet, Jean-Luc Mélenchon claims not to know him, but to read, listen and watch him “with fascination”. “I see in him the same wise and total determination as Mrs. Priscilla Ludosky”, the origin of the petition against the rise in fuel prices. And the Insoumis does not fail to find a historical parallel, because – as he recalls – “there has already been a decisive Drouet in the revolutionary history of France”. This is the revolutionary Jean-Baptiste Drouet. On June 21, 1791, the latter prevented King Louis XVI from joining Varennes and contributed to his arrest by the aide-de-camp of La Fayette.
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“This Drouet is a true model in what is a popular revolution: we do not wait for instructions to act!”, Summarizes Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Jean-Baptiste Drouet “will be present in many of the decisive episodes of the great revolution of 1789”, he continues, referring in particular to a painting exhibited in the National Assembly.
Have we ever rid ourselves of the cruelty of a legal order other than by struggle?
In 2918 FRENCH socialist leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said that France should leave the EU if it proves impossible to renegotiate treaties that are “incompatible” with his party’s socialist programme.
Withdrawal from European Treaties.
A vocal critic of the European Union, Jean-Luc Mélenchon supports an immediate exit of the current treaties, whether it be hand-in-hand with other countries with the option of renegotiating a new framework of cooperation, or independently. He also urges the French people to respect the decision by the UK to leave the European Union. France would seek to facilitate Brexit without “any spirit of vengeance or punishment”.
He dubbed President Emmanuel Macron a “photocopier” for the European Union and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a speech at Amfis, the summer festival of his party La France Insoumise, in Marseille.
Mr Melenchon encouraged supporters to give Mr Macron a “democratic beating” in next spring’s elections to the European Parliament, assuring the crowd of 3,000 supporters that the election could be turned into an “anti-Macron referendum.”
“When you hold a referendum on Mr Macron, you are holding a referendum on Europe, because Mr Macron does not exist — he is just a little photocopier of the European Union and Ms Merkel.”
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