page_title: Timeline of the yellow vests movement
section_title: 2 February: "Act XII"
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of the yellow vests movement / February 2019 / 2 February: "Act XII"
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Le cortège des gilets jaunes défile à Paris rue de Rennes après être passé devant le Sénat. Samedi 9 février 2019.
context_page_description: The following is a timeline of the yellow vests movement, a political movement against the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.
context_section_description: On Friday, 1 February 2019, Edouard Philippe went to Bordeaux and informed merchants that an agreement had been found with insurers to treat insurance damage claims in successive weeks as part of a single event (with a single deductible). He also announced that the ten cities most affected by degradations, including Bordeaux, would receive €300,000. 
  On Saturday, 2 February, between 10,000 and 13,800 people protested in Paris, with thousands more in Tours, Valence, Marseille, Bordeaux, Toulouse, and other French cities. In Valence, the downtown shopping district was boarded up; the city had removed trash cans, park benches and protective fencing around trees in preparation. Paving stones had been tarred over to eliminate the risk of their being used as projectiles. According to the préfecture, 1850 people demonstrated in downtown Tours, which had likewise been boarded up.
  The demonstrations of "Act XII" focused on denouncing the number of serious injuries caused by police violence during anti-government demonstrations. According to the French government, around 2,000 civilians were injured in protests between November 2018 and February 2019, including four serious eye injuries. The government agency that investigates police abuses has opened 116 investigations into police conduct during the protests, ten of which concern serious eye injuries suffered by protesters. A group of 59 lawyers published an open letter denouncing the treatment of protesters in the courts, including rushed judgments against protesters without regard for their rights, which they contrasted with the slow pace of investigations into reports of police violence.
  Earlier in the week, France's highest court denied a request to ban police from using "flash balls" or "defensive ball launchers", known as LBDs, that shoot 40 millimetres (1.6 in) rubber projectiles, which have been blamed for a number of serious injuries. French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner admitted in media interviews that the weapon could cause injuries and had been used more than 9,000 times since yellow vests demonstrations began. The day before the Act XII protests, the government warned the public that police would not hesitate to use the weapons to combat violence by demonstrators, since they had been authorized by the court. On Saturday, thousands in Paris participated in a "march of the injured" calling for the weapon to be banned. Injured protesters marched at the front, some wearing eye patches with a target sign on them. Jerome Rodrigues, a well-known participant in the movement who lost an eye in the previous week's demonstrations, was received warmly with applause by the crowds.
  Most of the demonstrations during Act XII were peaceful. As in prior weeks, 80,000 security officials had been mobilized, including 5,000 in Paris. In Paris, police used tear gas and water cannons at Place de la Republique in the city centre to force demonstrators back after clashes with protesters, some hooded or masked, and some who set fire to bins and a scooter. Despite these incidents, the media reported that demonstrations "remained relatively calm compared to previous weekends." Two police officers were injured and two protesters arrested in Morlaix; two officers injured and one demonstrator arrested in Nantes; and in Lille, where between 1,800 and 3,000 protesters marched, 20 were arrested.
  The twelfth week of protests occurred as the French parliament was considering a new law proposed by Macron's governing party restricting the right to protest. The proposed law would outlaw covering one's face during a street demonstration (whether with a helmet, mask, or scarf), punishable by a €15,000 fine or imprisonment, and allow local police to establish blacklists of people not allowed to participate in street protests. The proposed law was opposed by some members of parliament inside and outside Macron's party.
caption: A Gilets jaunes protest in Paris, 9 February 2019
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