Toulouse: traders fear the return of Yellow Vests to the streets
For months, the Yellow Vests marched through the city center, causing a dent in the turnover of traders. They fear their return.
They have not been forgotten. Three years ago, yellow vests marched through the streets of downtown Toulouse, forcing businesses to close for a few hours on Saturdays. A temporary closure that has led some to decrease the curtains. Traders still open remember “the screams, the smell of tear gas and the sound of the defense ball launcher (LBD)”.
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“When we heard the noise of the demonstration approaching, we lowered the iron curtain, remembered Lionel, the manager of Monopticien, watching videos he filmed during the demonstrations. They were scenes of war. Once, yellow vests were in front of me. The police fired at the LBD and a burst of bullet had even burned my windbreaker”. He adds: “I lost tens of thousands of euros in turnover”.
The re-election of Emmanuel Macron casts doubt
The shortfall for traders was between 20 and 30% every Saturday. The merchants had put away this bad memory in a drawer. But the re-election of Emmanuel Macron casts doubt on the return of the Yellow Vests for many of them. “I don’t prefer to talk to you about the demonstrations of and those they have led to. I’m afraid to live again in the coming weeks, ”says the manager of a bar on Boulevard de Strasbourg.
A shopkeeper in the Joan of Arc district, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, confides that “it was horror”. People took refuge inside our business by ten,” she continues. According to a trader, the return of the Yellow Vests is inevitable: “Macron was re-elected only 58% against the far right. Hostility towards the president is strong. It will be accompanied by anger…”