She likes to recall that she "was there" when the prestigious restaurant Le Fouquet's burned down. That was March 16, 2019, during a particularly chaotic and violent "act" of the Yellow Vests movement on the Champs-Elysées. She protested every Saturday in Paris at the time, wearing the signature high-vis vest.

Six years later, Sylvie, 61, is still working as a dental assistant. (She requested that her last name not be cited.) She is still following the Facebook page of Eric Drouet, a prominent figure in the movement. But recently, she had also been closely following the Instagram account "Le grand réveil 2025," ("The 2025 great awakening"), which has called on "the people" to "bring the country to a halt" on September 10. By early September, it had nearly 81,000 followers.

This popularity did not surprise her. "People are so angry... How can they take away two public holidays from us when we're all working so hard?" she said with indignation. "Mr. Bayrou [the prime minister], I don't think he realizes how much French people work! I see them as early as 6:05 am on the [train] platform, and sometimes I see the same people on the return train at 8 pm. They're all like me, exhausted. So when we get a public holiday, we really value it! It's really insulting... They have already postponed my retirement..."

You have 86.49% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.