Could the riots in France ever happen here or is this just a feature of French society

[mids2019]

I am watching coverage of the protests in France including the shocking coverage of the burning of a town hall and wonder is this something that ever could happen in the UK or is protest at this scale somehow part of the French DNA given how the republic was born in revoution?

Personally I think immigration and it's consequences may be part of the unrest and I am questioning whether this mass uprisings is simply about school standards. We have a cost of living crisis in the UK but this form of protest does not happen so what is different?

@mids2019
Watching the news is scary.
I was in Paris about 8 yrs ago (I think).

The Yellow Jackets we're rioting and we're we smack in the middle of it.

We couldn't get off the main roads as the riot police had blocked all the side streets off.

Ended up taking refuge in a bar, the bar owner closed the metal shutters, with us, 4 English people and a load of nonchalant French people all trapped inside.

It was like being in a war zone, petrol bombs going off outside, screaming, glass smashing.

We were watching what was happening outside the bar on the TV as it was happening.

I hope to never witness that here, I know we've had riots before but I've never been caught up in one before Paris.

Literally terrifying

It isn't their history.

Why would they care?

i dislike the cliche that the French love to riot. French shopkeepers have been subject to attacks and violence and are in despair.

At least they're finally reporting on it. The BBC ignored it for about a week... then framed the story as police brutality for a while more.

I suppose it eventually became pointless to pretend there was 'nothing to see here'.

It's beginning to sound like an Ali G movie. Me an me Julie iz gonna go riotin so we can nick some stuff from da Louis Vuitton store. Dat is social justice innit. Really??

Riots seem always to start with a legitimate protest about something, and then a bunch of people who are uninterested in the original cause, but who like a bit of looting and agro, arrive to do just that - loot and be aggressive. This lot don't care about the historic building because they just want to start fires and any building will do - actually, the more historic the better because that gives them the most satisfaction.

It pains me to see a beautiful historical building like the Limoges town hall destroyed. What is the difference between that and Palmyra in Syria destroyed by Isis? It is terrorism.

The gilet jaunes was nothing like this. Ds was visiting a friend in Paris and the Louvre was still open, in spite of the city being deserted. He was able to view the Mona Lisa with no one else there 😂 Astonishing when you see the normal zoo and dreadful instagrammers there.

These aren’t bona fide protests: they are riots.

I live in France and support most of the grievances, particularly the student movement but, obviously none of the violence that happened yesterday on the outskirts of the protests.

FWIW, I live close to Paris and yesterday was a perfectly ordinary day. The riots are pretty localized and the press are dramatically exaggerating the situation.

I can’t see anything like this ever happening in the UK though for the basic reason that the French are citizens whilst the British are subjects!

It’s nothing to do with school / education politics.

Its all to do with French culture.

No, it wouldn’t happen in the UK today (it did in the past but since Thatcher I think it’s no longer the same mindset, and the British have been sufficiently brainwashed to view protesting as negative and ‘not aspirational’ and therefore not the thing to do. Not the case at all in France.

The Rest is History podcast have just finished an excellent series on the French Revolution- it really completely explains where the French culture gets this love of protesting from. I think it’s very hard to understand what / why they are ‘protesting’ (really it’s looting at this point) unless you do have some experience of French culture. It’s in their blood and they are very very anti establishment. We love the establishment in the UK; we like to be aspirational and seen to be aspirational- here in France this is the opposite of desirable! It’s very vulgar to be rich, to want to be rich, to try and succeed above a certain level. Some people use this to their advantage to go looting whilst there is some media coverage of ‘protests’.

What?!

How close to the riots were you? Anywhere near République?

Or is this basically someone living in Milton Keynes saying that everything seems fine to them whilst London, Manchester and Birmingham are burnt and looted?

I feel this way as well. We’re all teetering on the brink. People don’t care any more. They have nothing to lose, or feel like they have nothing to lose. The country is far too crowded and we are like rats in cages. There is such a disconnect between government and what the average person wants, it feels like all they’re interested in doing is propping up the GDP stats while our actually quality of life declines.

Life was ordinary for me during the riots year before last but that doesn’t mean they weren’t a very serious event

I think as the economy continues on a downward slide and the cost of living crisis impacts even deeper it will absolutely happen here. People will be angry if/when services aren’t been provided and essentially the contract between the people and the government breaks down. Push people hard enough and there will be a revolution of sorts.

Obviously if the government can keep control of the police and army they will keep a lid on it to some extent. We had riots more than a decade ago didn’t we in various different parts but London was the worst affected irrc. Economic downtown and unemployment were some of the factors thought to have caused that and then the shooting of Mark Duggan was the final straw. It was rain which stopped it all but it went on for nearly a week.

if the government run out of money to pay the army and police they won’t bother trying to stop it. It’s an extreme possibility but I’m actually writing a novel about this situation currently. Total societal collapse. It’s taking me so long to write I fear society may have broken down by the time I finish and there’ll be no bookshops left! 😁

Exactly how many storms have we had in the last 6 months? Odd conclusion to reach although I agree it's not in our culture, more likely to tut and roll our eyes moan a bit etc

The UK can do unrest too but not as well as the French and I wish the public here was less apathetic about the cost of living crisis

@Greenseawitch what would you like the UK public to do?

Coming to a town near you. Anyone who thinks this is "just French culture" is foolish. This is a whole new generation of entitlement who know they outnumber the police and can do what they want.

Mainstream media are struggling with this one. The sanitised reporting shows how the narratives are driven. Would be so much easier if it was white teens looting and burning and stripping elderly couples. But it isnt!

Here

Well the intifada has been globalised. Why are they flying Palestinian flags? Will hopefully make some people here wake up but I'm not hopeful.

Multiculturalism has failed.

Watch Europe gradually swing to the right now.

These kids are not 'immigrants'. They are French citizen, born in France. Being a French national does not equal to being white.

France was a colonial power who happily took control of places like Algeria and Tunisia. It still has overseas territories. Many of its citizens have brown or black skin.

The attempt to turn protests about the cost of living and education standards into another reason to blame immigrants for everything is frankly disgusting.

You evidently had the data concerning the ID of the looters and arsonists before the media.

No.

I just happen to be French and know the history of the country, including its colonial past, and the ethnic makeup of its population.

More Reform-type propaganda.

Some people won't be happy until they see historical buildings burn down, people's businesses ransacked and firefighters set alight it seems.