Paris riots

[woolybanana]

Bad day in old Paris town with concerted, violent attacks on the police with burning of cars and property. An apparently peaceful demonstration against poverty and Macron’s new police law was highjacked by hooded and violent thugs,

probably anarchists and Black Bloc.

Not good.

As a cynic said, at least they were masked.

[alittlebitfrench]

They are not all hooded and violent thugs.

A lot/most are everyday French people from all sorts of backgrounds. Some are school kids. Some from aristocratic families.

This is your problem. Behaviour like this is becoming more and more acceptable in France. It is a day out in a lot of cases.

Would it be acceptable in the UK ?

France is becoming a very very violent place to live. In the street, in the home...in a car.....at school. Violence is everywhere.

It is terrible for kids growing up here.

Just wait until taxes go up next year. The shît is going to hit the fan.

[betise]

Sorry ALBF, who are you saying are "...everyday French people from all sorts of backgrounds. Some are school kids. Some from aristocratic families." the black blocs? They are, as has been said, violent thugs who hide behind their hoodies and masks, there only to destroy, and for notoriety

.

[idun]

Wondering if anyone on here has actually been to a HUGE manif in Paris?

I

have, years ago.Whisked up the capitol in a special train from the

Alpes and fortunately a day without, as far as I was aware, 'incident'.

Sadly

my sons have been to manifs and at one of them, when no one in their 'area' was doing

anything untoward other than marching, and waving banners....... and

then the magnificent Compagnies républicaines de sécurité turned up in

riot gear and then things turned. My sons' friend was arrested, like my

kids a white lad, BUT as his grandfather was black had african features

to go with his white skin and blonde hair.......one can but wonder the

reason why 'he' was arrested, doing nothing, and mine were not, all

marching together.

Covid and winter? and people

were covered, and that might be why they were up to no good, well, I

would have been too, a hood and hat on and a mask.

And I question if it is any worse than it ever was. France was a very violent country when I moved. Regular shootings in the city I lived in. Manifs galore, one tv reporting program pulled because it reported on student manifs, great program and then 'gone', and the head journalist not seen on tv for quite a few years.

When I moved to France with five words of french, would you believe that 'manifestation' was one of the first words I learned!

Funny how rarely the Compagnies républicaines de sécurité are mentioned, and I am far from saying that there are not very bad folk out there who are agitators/anarchists.  But there is one thing for sure, if you have a teen off to a manif, and you hear the CRS are there, believe me until they turn up safe and sound, it is a boat load of worry.

[EuroTr@sh]

I think the UK is very apathetic, politically.

When I was 20 or so I did a year as an English speaking assistante in a lycée technique-commerce. My classes were 16, 17 and 18 and in the conversation lessons we sometimes used to take a current affairs theme and It was quite an eye opener to me how politically switched on these kids all were. Made me feel inadequate actually because I was supposed to be leading the discussion and I felt like a baby, I'd never discussed stuff at that level before and basically they took over and I just helped them with their English. One lesson we looked at terrorism, I don't think that in all my sheltered little life up to then I had met a terrorist sympathiser and I thought we would spend the lesson saying how dreadful terrorists are, but not a bit of it.

I'm sure I learned more in those lessons than they did, and I came back from France a different person than when I went.

All that to say, I think the potential for violence has always been there. It's always bubbling below the surface and it doesn't take a lot to bring it out.

[idun]

 Isn't it in one's nature to be 'political' or not. I always was, my eldest son is, the youngest not. My Dad was, and his brother who I did not meet until I was 40 and he in his 60's  as he had moved abroad at a young age and simply lost contact with the family,  he was VERY political.

Some french folks I know are, some not, the only thing is that everyone seemed to 'know' that if what the government was doing really did not suit them, then they should take to the barracades, a republican right. [:)] And you could always tell the male soixante huiters in our village, never actually got over it, it was like 'their war' and they were easy to recognise,with their long locks which became lanky with age.

[EuroTr@sh]

idun wrote the following post at 06/12/2020 18:36:

Isn't it in one's nature to be 'political' or not.

I don't know idun. Maybe it can be there but latent and needs waking up? All I can say is, in my teens and my first 2 years at university I had no interest in politics, it was all about studying and sport and social life. Then I spent a year in France, then I came back and gravitated towards a different set of friends and got involved in demos and stuff.

It was less than a decade after soixante huit when I was at the school and it was still regarded with a kind of awe I think.