Gilets Jaunes Demonstrations Update to Parents and Families

This post is a republished version of an email communication sent by AUP President Celeste Schenck to the parents and families of our current students on December 2, 2018, about the Gilets Jaunes demonstrations. It is part of our Safety & Security blog that rounds up all the latest news and updates for our community.

Dear AUP Parents and Family Members, 

You may have watched last night (and worried about) the scenes of less-than-peaceful demonstration near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. I write this morning from my own apartment a few blocks from the epicenter of last night's protests, as the French authorities clear away the debris in an area where order has been restored, to reassure you that the situation is under control. A national movement of largely peaceful protesters, known as the "gilets jaunes," or yellow vests, met in Paris for the second consecutive Saturday to protest a recent rise in taxes on gasoline, the diminished power of their pocketbooks, and a host of other economic issues that have rendered life for working and middle class families more difficult and to which they feel the government hasn't responded quickly enough or comprehensively enough. This largely peaceful and legitimate protest, as President Emmanuel Macron termed it, was disturbed last week and this week, by a subgroup composed of some yellow jackets, plus a host of young people with diverse affiliations and goals, who took advantage of the situation to burn some cars, break into storefronts, and loot a number of stores. The base of the Arc de Triomphe was also defaced with graffiti.  

I want to let you know that we notified your children, our students, yesterday morning by email –as we always do when significant protest events, or manifestations take place in the capital– that the event would be taking place, encouraging them to avoid the area of the Champs Elysées and to monitor their International SOS safety app to follow the situation. As things became tenser early evening yesterday, we texted each of your children, our students, to suggest they return home until the situation cleared. A few students followed up with our team to ask questions, but as of now we have no evidence that any AUP student was disturbed by the events of last night.  

I also want to assure you that we will be monitoring the situation over the next week, as Emmanuel Macron returns to Paris this morning and meets with his Cabinet to determine next steps. It is quite possible that a third week of protest will not be allowed by the French authorities and that talks between the government and the protesters will begin quickly. We will continue to inform our students –and you–of any risk, hoping that the worst has passed and that things will return, as they seem this morning from my window, to normal.  

Warmest regards, 

Celeste Schenck