UPDATE from The Ground: Yellow Jackets Protest, France

I am bringing you an update regarding the goings on here in my area of France.

Over the last few days I have spoken about this with many people. Some friends, some coworkers, some complete strangers. There has been a definite evolution in the attitudes and perceptions regarding the protests and the current situation. There are two well defined camps at this point, though they are all still working together, I have to wonder how long that will go on for. The reason for my saying so is that the people making up the bulk of the protestors, at least the most active ones, are fundamentally at odds with each other politically. I couldn't venture to guess at what percentage makes up either side as I have not spoken to anywhere near enough people to even begin to provide a survey sample size worth anything. But basically, you have the left comprised of varying Socialists, Anarchists and Communists, and on the right the Nationalists, Conservatives, Generation Identitaire , and surprisingly, Royalists. From what I have read and seen, it would appear that the ones on the Right have made the most progress due to better organization, strategizing and working towards their common goals. I cannot say with any certainty, but it seems there may be the beginnings of a lean towards Nationalism in the works. If this is indeed the case, and the Right ends up taking over the movement, it is likely that all leftist elements either drop out all together, or even worse, form a seperate movement at odds with the Right. This may not occur at all, I'm merely extrapolating a possibility based on my observations.

Also, many people are having trouble supporting the Yellow Jackets because of the vandalism that has been occuring which for the largest part are by the leftist elements. They have defaced national monuments that are the pride of the nation, broken into, looted and destroyed many private businesses, set fire to private automobiles unconcerned with the image this conveys. That being said, there is no indication whatsoever that things are going to die down anytime soon.

Which brings me to the crux of the article I'm writing for you today. This afternoon, I ventured out to seek the supplies I suspect we may need for the weeks and perhaps months ahead. Last minute prepping before the storm so to speak. On my way out, I drove through one of the Yellow Jacket roundabouts, this one on the edge of my town (pop 10k). There were several hundred people there, just making their presence and conversing as best as I could tell in the couple minutes it took me to get through. Police were present in a surprisingly large number for the area but there didn't seem to be any type of tension and the officers were just hanging around chatting. The rest of my trip to the store (Auchan, think of it like a french Costco) was uneventful, though there were far more police than I am accustomed to seeing.

Upon arrival at the store, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Not until I started my shopping that is. I could go into detail about what I witnessed, but I think a picture is indeed worth a thousand words:

I did swing by my local supermarket to pick up the items I couldn't find at the megamart, and they were still in stock, but you could see that there were only a few of many items remaining and the shelves had just been made to appear full by bringing everything to the front.

What really struck me about all this was not the lack of products on the shelves, I was half expecting that. What shocked me were the reactions of the shoppers, or should I say lack of reaction. I didn't see a single person have a reaction that went beyond "Oh shucks, they're out of such and such... well we'll get some next week". I did however overhear at least a dozen people have that reaction. It has not occured to these people that by next week the shelves will all be empty. Not a single comment comparing this to late 80s Moscow. It also does not seem to have dawned on their employees. I spoke to a few to inquire about the lack of one product or another. They all started by saying "Well you know, the protestors are preventing delivery so we're out for now" probably what corporate has instructed them to say. Not one of the employees seemed concerned in the slightest, cause you know, restocking those shelves is just one delivery away...

The way things are going, that delivery might not be for a while.

• French Anonymous