Ruffin offers "aperitifs every night in front of places of power"

"Paris must enter the dance!" In full movement of "yellow vests", François Ruffin and his family were in a hurry to organize a rally on Thursday evening in the Place de la République in Paris. The hundred or so supporters who have responded are not homesick. Many were in the same place two years ago during "Nuit Debout", the spontaneous movement that came out of the ground during the labor law reform in 2016. But in 2018, the context is different. "Unlike Nuit Debout, we have today a movement where, for the moment, it is the peripheries that move and Paris that moves little," said François Ruffin, who wants to be on the front line of the movement. This time, no call to occupy the Parisian place every night. The goal Thursday night was above all to mobilize the capital.

"I balance ideas like that"

"Paris has a responsibility," said the deputy of the Somme at the microphone. "We know that the audience here is undoubtedly more educated, more qualified and potentially better paid," he says, asking the public not to describe "yellow vests" as "beaufs" like the sometimes wants the caricature. He goes on: "You probably belong, like me, to the intermediate clbad. This is the clbad that has the choice to rank either behind the top or behind the bottom. You have the choice!".

The director of Merci Patron! did not come empty-handed. François Ruffin brought a specific idea to boost the mobilization in the capital. "In Paris, we are next to places of power. Every night you can go for aperitifs with mulled wine. Before the Prime Minister, in front of the National Assembly, in front of the Elysee. That you can do it every night, "he says. The long applause of the public – conquered in advance – approve. "I balance ideas like that," said the deputy a few minutes later in front of journalists come by dozens. Has the free LFI electron spoken to his fellow MPs Insoumis? If some had confirmed their presence Thursday night, none has appeared at his side.

Since the famous place of the east of Paris, stronghold of the French left, the deputy badures that the movement of "yellow vests" represents a turning point for the five years of Emmanuel Macron. "What is happening today is not the tax on diesel. The government knows that very well. If he goes back on it, he will be pushed back on the rest. Difficult waiting to cross a yellow vest Thursday night. Sign that the convergence of struggles is far from won? Ruffin sweeps: "There are plenty who are not motorists. We're not going to ask them to wear a vest! "