French riots: can you predict them?
There has been a weekend of protest in France over the cost of living and education. Even the French Government agree these are ‘legitimate concerns’
The media refer to riots and Macron has ordered a law and order crack down. Arrests continue as do protests. As many as 800,000 took to the streets in France at the weekend and there were conscious echoes of France’s revolutionary past, 1848, 1871 and 1968. Scratch student orchestras in Paris were to be heard playing the Internationale. There was also by a smaller number burning and looting but these are also characteristic of riots where established order breaks down. The UK has a well-known example in Camberwell on March 13th 1848. A Chartist crowd was protesting for the vote but looting of shops also took place. There was no easy political division to be found.
The Kaiser Chiefs famously sang that they ‘predict a riot’ but in fact this is not possible.
While many riots are not quite the spontaneous events they seem to authority- there is usually some spark, often the intervention of authority in a protest, that provokes them- they are not and can’t be pre-planned events like a big demonstration.
Historically, riots for abstract principles like Brexit are not common. Action over rising food prices while wages don’t keep pace is a more likely focus. Police racism is another as is discontent with a system that promises a decent life and completely fails to deliver it
Expect more protests and riots
Keith Flett is the Editor of A History of Riots (CSP 2015)
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