When the French fight high fuel taxes, they don yellow vests and march. When angry farmers want better pay, hundreds of them drive tractors down the Champs-Elysees. And when museum workers want better tourist management, they strike and shut down the Louvre.
Passionate public protest is as French as “La Marseillaise”, the 1792 anthem that enshrines the collective duty to fight tyranny in the country’s national identity. But this month, the most violent demonstrations in years – and tough policing – have raised concern about riots overshadowing hundreds of thousands of peaceful demonstrators marching against rising living costs and poor conditions in schools.
On Saturday alone, at least 2,400 people were arrested after rioters in cities across France clashed with police, set cars on fire, stormed public buildings, looted stores and engulfed a historic city hall in flames. More protests could be in store.
“How can French people do this to France?” outgoing President Emmanuel Macron asked on Sunday. Nothing justifies the destruction, he added. “We all feel anger and shame.”