Demonstration of 9 March 1883

The demonstration of 9 March 1883 was an anarchist protest in Paris led by approximately 15,000 unemployed people, carpenters, and workers. Louise Michel, Émile Pouget and Émile Digeon, three notable figures of the anarchist movement, took part. Paule Mink also took part in it, charging the police with a revolver. In addition to causing serious disturbances in the French capital, and narrowly missing the Élysée Palace or the French Interior Ministry, the demonstration is known for Michel's action, where she displayed the black flag, making it a central symbol of the anarchist movement.

Following the founding and development of anarchism, which a number of former Communards like Michel joined, this ideology and movement influenced and was joined by a number of workers and artisans, such as carpenters. As the repression against the movement intensified, the Chambre syndicale des menuisiers du bâtiment ('Carpenters' Union of the Building Industry') called for a large demonstration at Les Invalides against poverty and hunger.

The French authorities were alarmed by the situation and deployed a significant police presence around Les Invalides, which managed to push back the demonstrators and prevent them from entering the square. Two crowd movements then occurred: one headed towards the Élysée Palace and was repelled only at the last moment, when the Prefect of Police commandeered omnibuses and drove them towards the crowd.

On the other side, Michel—who put a black cloth on a broom, thus creating a black flag—and Pouget led a group of a few hundred people who went deep into the Latin Quarter, looting bakeries and shops. Pouget was arrested while fighting to free Michel, who managed to escape and go into hiding. She surrendered to the police a few weeks later, possibly because her mother was ill and she was worried about her. Michel, Pouget, and other anarchists were tried in June 1883; she received six years in prison, and Pouget, eight.