Media coverage of events in France over 17/18 October has focused on violence (taking into account the French police are known to be more robust and weaponised than say the Met in London) and not said much about the half a million or more who marched on fuel costs, education and the cost of living.
There is tradition here and May 1968 provides an interesting comparison. The extract and link below is from Le Monde 12/13th May 1968 via Marxists.org. Comparisons are not the stuff of the 24.7 news media but its important to understand how protest plays out on the streets. It is not a textbook on how to protest but rather the form and context of market capitalism funnels anger and the demand for action in certain ways, and those who organise protest react to and try to overcome that.
2:40 am. A first barricade falls on the Boulevard St Michel. In order to delay the slow but already ineluctable advance of the forces of order the students ignite their barricades with gas and set fire to tourist buses that they push into the middle of the street. IN the face of the determination of the demonstrators the police will soon use offensive grenades. There are many wounded on both sides. Because of the barricades, the combats, and the closing off of the area the evacuation of people touched or indisposed by the gas is extremely difficult. First aid centers are set up in various spots in the zones still untouched, from which the wounded would later be transported.
3:00 am, and while for more than an hour the students have been chanting “De Gaulle Assassin” the police charges are multiplying and they are removing the barricades one after another after strong resistance. Many people throw water from their windows onto the students to protect them from the affects of the tear gas. From time to time the police fire grenades into the apartments of these people to force them to retreat, sometimes to higher floors. The most ferocious combats will take place in the sector of the Rues Gay Lussac, Royer-Collard, d’Ulm, and St Jacques. The demonstrators only abandon their positions after being sure that they can do nothing more. And yet everything will have been tried during that night of riot: Molotov cocktails, burned cars, spreading of sand with bulldozers found at construction sites.
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