May day Paris 2019

May 1 Fete du Travail Labor Day
Usually there is a manifestation in the working class area of East Paris from Bastille or Nation to Republique. Buy some lilies of the valley and hope for nice picnic weather as most of Paris will be closed tighter than a drum because this is a big holiday here.

Thank you i new it was a special day in France and most of Europe , since we live in Florida we will try to bring nice weather with us !!! smile

If you're of a mind to follow one of these manifestations, they're fun. There are usually food wagons with merguez and frites made on the spot. There will be music etc. However, sometimes these joyful affairs are invaded by people who are up to no good so there will be a big police presence. Closer to the holiday there will be lots of info on the net.

I’m going to be completely honest. We went to Disneyland Paris on May Day in 2015 during a two week trip Paris. It was crowded there but fairly manageable. We couldnt find too much else to do and weren’t super keen on getting involved in the celebrations. I’ll qualify this by saying I’m also a Disney nerd, so I wanted to go anyways. May Day was a convenient excuse.

I think Pere Le Chaise was open still that day and that was going to be our alternate if we decided not to do Disney.

What you could do is reach out to the staff at the official tourist info website for Paris. Here is the link below. They might be able to give you some idea of what stuff is going on that day.

https://en.parisinfo.com

The Jacquemart-André Museum is open on May 1, but almost all other museums are closed.

I would be wary of the May Day celebrations this year, as much trouble as we've had, even again today, with the Gilets Jaunes. A May Day celebration will be something that the protesters will most likely want to glom on to, given it's already kind of a “people against the power” holiday.

Take a Pont Neuf Seine river cruise.

Prudence of course is advised for all of these demonstrations. How many were at the Opera Climate protest today without a smidgen of trouble? Mar 16th is a bit early to speculate about possible events on May 1 don't you think? I'm sure OP will be keeping track of the news.

Last year the march moved from around Bastille to Place d'Italie -- we walked down to meet it as we stay in an apartment in the 13th. About a minute, literally, after we met the march as it came in our direction the black block that was largely at the front of the manifestation began throwing molotov cocktails and generally causing mayhem and then tear gas was flying. The police deftly turned the rest of the parade down to a bridge one down over the Seine and routed them around the disturbance cutting off the black block anarchists. Most of the manifestation was families with kids in strollers and balloons, union groups with banners etc etc. We have seen many manifestations in Paris, this was the first time we saw any violence and we were able to avoid being caught up even though we were so close to it. With the Gillet Jeune as well, I'd be attentive to what is going on. These rioters as well as the Black Block are easy to spot since they wear uniforms.

Given that May 1 is just more than six weeks away, and that we now have had four months of Gilet Jaune protests, and that there are some known factors that surround May Day gatherings every year, and that, finally, the OP asked about May 1 in Paris, I didn't think it askance to provide some analysis based on my assessment of the situation currently. Will it turn out to be right? Who knows. Maybe yes, maybe no. Will I keep watching developments between now and then and adjusting my analysis accordingly? Yes. Is it worth reading what I wrote? Who knows. People are welcome to disregard at will!

As for the enormous number of peaceful protesters at Republique yesterday, I saw estimations of around 45,000 people by an independent firm that has started analyzing crowd numbers for some press organizations in hopes of finding a better estimate than the always low estimates of the police and the always high estimates of the organizers. In any event, the climate marchers were far more numerous than the Gilets Jaunes, and, as mentioned, no issues of violence or destruction.

The fact that the Gilets Jaunes set on fire an apartment building with its residents inside, not to mention the kiosks on the Champs-Elysees, as well as defacing the plaque in honor of the police officer killed by a terrorist there in 2017, all really turns my stomach.

John Litchfield in the local.fr, however, has a piece today where he assesses that this is the beginning of the end for the Gilets Jaunes (rather than the beginning of another surge). I just hope he's right. You won't catch me, however, hanging around any busy public spaces in Paris on May 1.

May 1 is a good day for picnicking in parks, doing neighborhood walks (there will be cafes open but not a good day for shopping), doing a Seine Cruise, going up the Eiffel Tower, visiting Pere Lachaise. I'd probably plan to do a self guided walking tour in an area I was not familiar with or walk the Promenade Plantee from Bastille to Vincennes.