Saturday 16th of November 2019, saw the first anniversary of the Gilets Jaunes movement. Fifty three consecutive weeks of introspection, pondering the mess of this damn world, with the occasional violent interlude. As expected, infiltrators did their very best to spoil the birthday celebrations, causing disruption, here at Bastille, and more significantly at Place d'Italie in the 13th.
Police tactics changed, after huge condemnation of the often trigger happy approach. Gone were the flash bombs and rubber bullets - they just blitzed the demonstrators with a relentless barrage of tear gas. And it worked. No significant injuries, and eventually people could not outlast the assault on the eyes and lungs, and dissipated into the Paris autumn night.
