AUMETZ, France — It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way, spending summer vacation by a traffic circle.

But even as much of the rest of France spent August at the beach, “Yellow Vest” demonstrators gathered near their habitual roundabout on a Friday evening. They shared drinks, sitting on mismatched chairs and lounging on castoff couches inside their wooden shack. “You’re in the right place,” read a sign hanging in the entrance.

“On television, they keep showing all these traffic jams,” said Rolland Gambioli, referring to the gigantic snarls on the national highways during the peak summer holidays. “You’d think everyone went on vacation, but many of us don’t. The reality is different.”

France is famous for its long summer vacations. In Paris, handwritten notes pop up on the doors of the local bakery, brasserie or locksmith indicating that the owners are away and that you should be, too. Streets, at least those without tourists, turn deathly quiet.