The following video is a report on what happened on the sidewalks of the Champs Elysées in Paris on Bastille Day, July 14th. All traces of support for the Yellow Vests were systematically eliminated from the scene. Gendarmes and police moved among the crowd, arresting people for wearing yellow clothing or carrying yellow balloons. Watch the action at about 5:25, when a young woman with a yellow balloon is manhandled (personhandled?) roughly by the gendarmes.

Many thanks to Ava Lon for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Video transcript:

00:16 “Hide this yellow so Macron won’t see it” [allusion to Tartuffe by Molière] by Serge Faubert

00:20 When the priority mission of the police forces

00:26 becomes the hunt for the slightest scrap of yellow fabric, we say

00:30 that the decline of democratic freedom has reached the peak of absurd and that the rule of law

00:34 is only a shadow of itself. In order to please to the monarch before he reviews the troops

00:37 on the Champs Elysées, the orders were given to the police officers and to the gendarmes

00:42 to confiscate all the objects or garments which might be a reminder of the Yellow Vests,

00:46 and to challenge/arrest the wearers. [chants] we are here, we are here!

00:51 While the Yellow Vests have indeed called for a massive presence

00:55 on the sidewalks, like here, close to the roundabout of the Champs [Elysées].

00:59 I’m not violent; we only want to eat lobster [alludes to fired minister], that’s all. I’m not violent.

01:03 Those police officers aren’t ecologists. If they are picking up those plastic bottles

01:07 whose owners were forced to empty them on the spot, it’s to avoid

01:11 their being used as projectiles.

01:16 The official vehicles are strongly whistled at [disapproval] and the slogans are gushing.

01:20 [chant] Police — everywhere! Justice — nowhere!

01:24 The gendarmes are moving.

01:28 This man in the

01:32 yellow t-shirt is arrested first.

01:45 Then it’s the turn of the group which was around him to be surrounded and arrested.

01:49 Eh, don’t push me! I don’t want to!

01:53 Madame, this is the third time I’ve asked you to move on or I’ll arrest you.

01:57 Arrest? What have I done?

02:01 In the middle of the afternoon there have been 175 arrests

02:06 in the capital.

02:10 It’s at that very moment that the vehicle of the President of the Republic, escorted by the

02:14 cavalry of the Republican Guard, arrives on the level of the demonstration.

02:18 [chant] Macron — step down!

02:30 [chant] Macron — step down!

02:34 On the sidewalks the hunt for the yellow continues.

02:39 They took your t-shirt? —Yes, they took my t-shirt, monsieur, voilà, it’s

02:43 part and parcel of the system! —What color was your t-shirt? —Well, it had perhaps

02:47 a slightly “yellow tendency”, in fact, but it’s not the problem today. —Was it an old t-shirt?

02:51 It was an old t-shirt, absolutely. It’s not the problem today. The problem is on the street.

02:55 Have you seen it? A July 14th like that — I’m a veteran; I’ve never seen anything like that

02:59 in my life! And I’m over 50 years old. Voilà, monsieur. That’s all I have to say about that.

03:04 [chant] Where is Steve?! And always this throbbing question:

03:08 “Where’s Steve?!” in the name of that young partygoer, who fell

03:12 or was pushed into the Loire river, after a police charge, during a music festival.

03:16 [chant] Where’s Steve?!

03:20 The police patrols enter the crowd

03:24 in order to intimidate the protesters. The uniforms especially

03:29 make sure to puncture all the yellow balloons, considered HIGHLY subversive attributes.

03:45 Balloons, balloons!

03:49 They chased me and then they punctured it with a knife. Voilà.

03:54 What did they tell you? —Well, nothing. They have orders

03:58 that the yellow not be visible. They have to.

04:02 I almost had to remove my dress.

04:06 So the yellow is forbidden? —Well, of course! But it’s been forbidden for a while.

04:10 The yellow is scary! —The yellow is disturbing! —They forbid… —Yellow disturbs them.

04:15 Apparently it became fashionable, though. It’s the people’s celebration today!

04:19 In the heart. It’s symbolic. We were worried

04:23 it wouldn’t work, but it worked. —It’s true that among the public there were

04:27 people who were Macron supporters, who could say certain things,

04:32 and I think that in fact they don’t understand what is going on currently in France.

04:35 I think they have blinders, and they don’t understand. —We were celebrating Macron

04:39 “worthily”, I’m sorry: he got the whistles, he got yellow balloons,

04:43 he got flags, he got songs. It was Macron’s celebration today.

04:47 But by the people this time! —Sophie Tissier is here.

04:51 She’s one of rare personalities from the Yellow Vests who is still free at this point;

04:56 Maxime Nicole, Eric Drouet and Jérôme Rodrigues were arrested a little earlier.

05:00 A police officer has just punctured a yellow balloon

05:04 That she was holding. A strong exchange follows.

05:08 [chant] We are here even if Macron doesn’t want us, we are here! —The young woman isn’t intimidated

05:12 She inflates another balloon. This time the police intervention

05:16 is more vigorous.

05:21 But the officials are forced to back off. —Fascists!

05:25 We don’t give up, people! —Contention!

05:29 Contention is a democratic right, OK? It’s in the constitution! —Respect

05:33 the constitution! Third attempt. The brawl is generalized. This time

05:37 the uniforms manage to grab Sophie Tissier.

05:58 The tension has relaxed.

06:02 The Yellow Vests improvise a caterpillar.

06:06 [chant] We are here, even if Macron doesn’t want us, we are here!

06:10 We are workers, and for a better future, even if Macron doesn’t want it, we are here!

06:15 Police let them continue. The parade ends

06:19 and the President gets ready to go to his palace. Already the public is moving to

06:23 the next streets to leave the area. In the middle of the afternoon, while

06:27 police remove the barriers, incidents here and there oppose Yellow Vests and

06:31 law enforcement.

06:35 At 6 pm the police and the gendarmes have retaken the control of the area, but they carry on

06:39 the cat and mouse game. [chant] Where’s Steve?! Assassins!

06:44 [chant] Assassins!

06:52 A little group is surrounded at Champs Elysées

06:56 The gendarmes, however, are nice, and they let

07:00 the protesters leave a few at a time.

07:04 Yes we were surrounded. But the holes of the [fishing] nets are large…

07:10 It’s a trust relation that we have [with law enforcement = sarcasm].

07:13 We hadn’t been her for a while, and it’s always a pleasure to

07:17 to see one another with out friends the gendarmes, who are always here

07:21 to surround us in the best places. Voilà. I was just asking myself —

07:25 I’m still unable to understand the general passivity that

07:29 is here. This government that suspects everything, even the worst.

07:34 Today the majority of people don’t move any more. And today we are

07:38 several thousands, but it’s definitely not enough

07:42 Tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands in every city could really say ‘no’ to this government,

07:46 really say ‘no’ to this entire system,

07:50 which is totally enslaving us. Come! Join us!

07:54 We are here! We are still here! Seven months later! We don’t let go!

07:58 Monsieur Castaner! Monsieur Macron! We will be there!

08:03 Always in your way!

08:07 Here and there the rebels in yellow are being arrested.

08:11 Others are luckier. The luxurious businesses

08:15 are barricading themselves. The Fouquets [restaurant], which was open for July 14th

08:19 is putting its shell back up. The retailers and public powers

08:24 are in fact afraid that the Yellow Vests and the supporters of the Algerian soccer team

08:27 May join forces in looting during the evening,

08:32 creating this way — because of a sport event — a fusion between the ghettos and

08:36 the roundabouts outside the cities [where the Yellow Vests protest]. But at 10pm there will only be

08:41 soccer enthusiasts noisily celebrating the accession of the Fennecs to the African Cup finals.