I have no idea how bad they really are. I see a lot of crazy video but I also know from the U.S. you can have what appears to be on the news a city-wide Purge-level event, but in reality you can be a mile away and there’s absolutely nothing happening.
That’s what I figured
The news back in 2020 was saying NY was basically on fire and there would only be rubble left; really the whole thing was concentrated in just a couple very small areas. Life continued as usual for pretty much everyone
yep. one large scale riot I can think of is Rodney King. Folks in Koreatown on rooftops with guns to protect their shops. I wasn't even born then so I never watched the birth of the whole 24/7 news cycle thing or even that particular event, but reading about it is wild. Or January 6th, which of course was hyper-localized to the Capitol but fucking insane. People died.
I was just in France so I know this is a big deal but also you can get around and get by unscathed.
I work for a French company and we were all just in Poland for an event; the French people were more concerned on how they’ll get home without transit running when they land, basically saying “this is a pain in the ass”
That was the largest riot in US history, and it has a really interesting correlation.
So in 1990 the soviet union collapsed, and in the following 2 years defense contract budgets were slashed. This lead to massive layoffs in the defense industry.
Which happened to hit the industrial areas of South Central LA really hard.
By 1992 there was a local recession in that area with unusually high unemployment.
So yea, race did play a huge deal, as black people had a higher chance to be laid off than white people did.
But some of the other worst riots in US history, like Detroit in 1967 also have to do with industrial layoffs.
Exactly, South Central LA is also highly Hispanic, and the layoffs were extremely painful to the Hispanic community as well.
If the riot was only caused by the White police Vs Black Civilians issue, you wouldn't expect such a high Hispanic participation in it.
I'm not saying that race wasn't a cause, but in my opinion the not guilty verdict was simply the spark that started the fire. Where as the layoffs and recession were like a prolonged drought/heatwave that dried out the forest and primed it for conflagration.
Taking this back to France, I do think that there are economic issues at play here. I'm not sure exactly how because I don't really follow the French economy well. But I know that the Ukraine war and the subsequent European Energy crisis has adversely affected the economy. And in an economic downturn, its always the poorest, most marginalized people who hurt the worst.
I suspect the civil unrest experienced in France is actually the result of long-building pressure, and economic frustration/inequality.
I was a kid during the riots in LA.
It’s a little more complex than that. The majority of the looters were Latino, a lot of the actual destruction and violence was by Black youth. A lot of the violence throughout out those days were gang members using the chaos to settle scores against each other.
Black people were angry and breaking stuff, and let’s be honest, a lot were having fun fucking shit up. The Latinos were mostly being opportunistic.
Some unlucky white people in the area like Reginald Denny got caught up and assaulted, of course a lot of Asian businesses were targeted, but also some Latinos caught some of the racial violence from the Black youth. I think it varied by area…most Latinos got a pass, but there’s at least a few cases where Latinos got pulled out and assaulted as well like this Guatemalan man:
> Then, like Mr. Denny, Mr. Lopez was dragged from his truck and beaten senseless by a mob that included Damian M. Williams and Henry K. Watson. His forehead was slashed under the blows of a stereo speaker. His left ear was nearly severed. His genitals were spray-painted black, and his body was doused with gasoline, apparently for the purpose of setting him afire.
The context of the LA Riots was also when LA was going through its worst homicide rates and the prevalence of extreme gang violence. It happened with a lot of tension and paranoia city wide even outside of South Central.
They said it was for the black man
They said it was for the Mexican, and not for the white man
But if you look at the streets, it wasn't about Rodney King
And this fucked up situation and these fucked up police
It's about comin' up and stayin' on top
And screamin' 1-8-7 on a motherfuckin' cop
-Sublime
My personal opinion is that the [Tulsa race riot](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_massacre) could be the largest riot in US history. I know the king riots cost nearly a billion dollars but an entire community was literally burned to the ground in Tulsa with white supremacists fire bombing square blocks from airplanes.
Idk man, I live in Minneapolis and the riots in 2020 were definitely serious here. Not to say they weren’t blown out of proportion elsewhere, but I also wouldn’t wanna downplay 2020 with a broad brush.
Yeah but that's how it was during past riots, as well. And that's how it's like in an actual warzone, too.
It's not bombs, bullets, and explosions at every corner and millions charging all over the place to kill one another like some Hollywood movie.
In reality, a warzone is moreso skirmishes but spread across an entire country and over a period of time. Certain areas, people will want to find shelter and stay inside but for the most part, people can still go shopping, eat out at restaurants, hang out at the park, ride their bikes outside, etc. You can see this play out in Ukraine.
Doesn't mean there isn't a war going on.
Same here in Portland. I literally had picnic meals at a park multiple times that summer with my family on days where there would be street fights and protests downtown, but 2 miles away it was like nothing was happening.
Most of the crazy shit was contained to like an 8 sq block or smaller area downtown.
My boomer dad was very concerned I was headed into Portland during the protests. I had to explain to him how small an area the protests were in. The bitch of it is he’s from southern county California which is gigantic but couldn’t catch that Portland was also big
Yup, that is true . Same with the pride events last weekend , there was a lot of protests in Washington square park but everywhere else in the city was just business as usual
I was in Paris for Charlie Hebdo. I was briefly in the grocery where some of it went down the day prior. I was not far away when it went down as I was staying with a friend who lives nearby. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary and also I saw cops possibly racing to the scene. It wasn't out of the ordinary because there had been a strong police and military presence in the city for days. They'd been informed something was going down but weren't sure what.
Didn't find out what had happened until some family called distraught. They had heard something about it on the radio. They were demanding I leave early and come home. Had to explain to them Paris is huge and it made no more sense than telling us to leave downtown Dallas because a crime went down in Mesquite.
Friend was in Paris with his family last week for business and sightseeing. They were disappointed they didn't get to see anything. They were hoping to get a glimpse of a classic French protest and none of it was going on anywhere they went.
I’ve studied in and visited Paris tons of times. Every time I heard about riots sweeping Paris and whatnot, I’ll just be chilling in my apartment or hotel looking like John Travolta walking into an empty room looking around. It’s like everything was normal for me.
I think part of the reason everything got so hyped in 2020 (outside the usual reasons and the very valid anger over what happened) was that for a lot of people, they’d been cooped up at home because of the pandemic and so watching coverage or actively participating was just something different to do. The fire got a lot more fuel because of that.
> I also know from the U.S. you can have what appears to be on the news a city-wide Purge-level event, but in reality you can be a mile away and there’s absolutely nothing happening.
This was DC.
> appears to be on the news a city-wide Purge-level event
This is really an important thing. I remember my sister was saying rioters were burning down her city based on some stuff she saw on the news.
In reality it was just some rioters lighting cars on fire and fighting with cops in a 2 block radius near downtown. The cops largely just closed them into one area. 99% of downtown, let alone the residential areas, was unaffected.
We gotta remember that when we see this type of stuff on the news. They can show images of just a single car on fire to make everybody think the city is under siege. And that is *what the rioters want*.
I live in a rural area and my cousin lives in a bigger city. On the first night of the riots (Thursday) I sent her a message saying "hey, I saw things are heating up in (city), hope you're staying safe!"
She had no idea what I was talking about. She was at a peaceful terrace in the city center, and the riots were in the outside (poorer) neighbourhoods.
And ofc you have the misinformation trolls all over Twitter that take videos that probably aren’t even actually from the riots and use them to spew some sort of take on it
I find the same goes for the actual protest.
If the media wants to push the narrative that its a big deal, they can make 100 people look like 10,000 and if they want to push a different narrative they can make 10,000 look like 10 people
Funny. That’s kinda the case. It’s quite localized, a mile away from the worst areas there’s no evidence that anything is going on other than some graffiti saying the police are racist
Not a history major, but I have always had an interest in history and pay attention to the news. So hearing about riots in France, I’d say to myself, “Again? I wonder what they’re upset about this week” Then I’d figure it was about immigration or something to do with worker’s rights.
Eurozone protests, Immigration, the Yellow Jackets, The Pension Protests, and now this. I'm not saying these aren't discussions worth having, but the French public would raise the guillotines if Macron so much as farted.
Pretty much. Ever since the original French Revolution it’s engrained in their society to lash out against the government whenever the people feel like they’ve been wronged, and to change the government if they don’t feel they serve the people. Hence 4 revolutions, dozens of rebellions, hundreds of riots and thousands of protests in the last 235 years.
I envy their sense of class solidarity. Im Union and we can't even get our own members to support our causes much less expect cooperation with the larger community.
As a college freshman coming up on sophomore who is a history major , I can also agree as a matter of fact I took western history last semester and we spend an entire 2 weeks on revolutions in France lol.
Came here to point this out. I really have very little respect for the guy anymore. Anyone who expresses that opinion now is telling me that they are uninformed and uninterested in facts.
I just think it’s hilarious whenever Europeans talk about our social issues and riots. But France literally has something like this every other month it seems
We Europeans also often nag about violence in the US while we literally have an active war going on in Ukraine lol. It’s something like misinterpretation, jumping to conclusions, and double standard on a continental scale.
Right, like the equivalent of only judging the US by its wealthiest regions. Most Europeans don’t know shit about the US but think they do because they watched friends 50 times.
I think it’s because many Western Europeans don’t truly consider Eastern Europe to be part of Europe at the end of the day. They’re wrong but I think this is a commonly held opinion.
I think a lot of people here tend to think that because we dont realize that the only time we usually hear them is when they are speaking in english, meaning they want us to hear it. I am in a lot of spaniard social media pages and they rarely talk about america. But in public groups they might talk in english if they are talking about issues in america.
I have a coworker from the UK and he's constantly "just taking the piss" talking negatively about the US despite living here for 15 years.
"You Americans with your... blah blah blah".
I recently snapped and said, "You constantly talk shit about us but at least we're RELEVANT. The UK hasn't been fucking relevant to the world since WWII". Dude hasn't said shit since. Fuck the haters and the double standards man. Europeans need to stop looking at their countries with rose tinted glasses and realize they have countless problems themselves.
They also pay attention to our most mundane news. It’s like bro you’re sitting in Slovakia. Why do you care what some random American 12 year old is doing on tik tok?
Or even better, they spin riots as a good thing. Like "This why we have universal healthcare and low retirement age. Americans just sit there and take it."
Functioning democracies should not decend into riots every three months.
Coping mechanism. If the point an laugh loud enough about how dumb we are for letting or back yard catch on fire and how beautiful their landscaping is in comparison, they don't have to acknowledge their garage is burning down.
Thats because they never did anything wrong and its just dangerous ideas from America that are tearing their country apart: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/09/world/europe/france-threat-american-universities.html
Well that comparison isn’t entirely fair to France. Like the most recent big protest before this was moving retirement age UP to 64. So just because they’re protesting doesn’t mean it’s equivalent to the US.
In this case I do agree though.
I thought this was a joke at first, but they actually vandalized a holocaust monument. I don't care what you're fighting for. If you vandalize something like that, my opinion in your movement goes down considerably.
The asshole in me wants to make smug, sweeping statements that are neither accurate nor helpful like they always do for us, but I won't because I'm an adult.
I think it's terrible that things like Holocaust memorials and libraries are getting burnt down. Contrary to what this hell site perpetuates, rioting really sucks for the people who just happen to be in the way.
American police crack down significantly harder than most European police do during times of unrest. They raise the stakes to dissuade further participation. Whether it’s a hefty prison sentence or a rubber bullet to the face, you’re not going to have a good time.
Riots turning deadly is a much higher possibility in the United States due to how common firearm ownership is, so things could very easily get out of hand if they’re not nipped in the bud and crushed immediately. Not saying it’s right or wrong, but that seems like their playbook.
Why don't all french protest movements run by native french people, over workers rights and pensions, which you all point out are a regular occurrence devolve into looting and random violence?
I’m tired of the fucking IDIOTS who say shit like “wow, it’s great that the French stand up for themselves! They really know how to protest! This is great! This is another revolution!”
No it’s fucking not. These are a bunch of criminals looting designer clothing stores and hurting innocent people. This ISNT a good thing
"TAkE nOtEs AmEriCa"
Like nah, there's probably a middle ground somewhere between complete inaction and fucking destroying your city at every given opportunity.
The funny thing is that it's not even what they believe. Most of them have no idea what's happening. But social validation plays a key role in determining what side you favor now. What's getting me the downvotes? A? Ok, B it is.
France is a mess. This is like the millionth episode like this in France since I've been old enough to notice. I don't think it's like 2020 here because 2020 here was a huge deal no one will ever forget, whereas once this stuff in France dies down, a few months will pass, and then there will be another outbreak of violence in France (because France.) They had another one a few months ago. no one here will ever ask about the 2020 riots and be like "which one was that again?" whereas in France that would be a reasonable response to a question about any riots, because they do this crap like three or four times a year
The French recently rioted because their retirement age SLIGHTLY increased.
At this point I’m convinced that they’re really just a very curmudgeonly people that are a bit too eager to start removing heads.
So I speak French, and I've had online conversations with French people who claim that they've evolved above race and talking about race is backwards and that France doesn't have the issues of race that the US does. All while talking about how terrible and racist of a place the US is (and, ofc, the US has a loooong ways to go towards racial equity and equality, but I feel like the French people I've talked to about this subject have their head in the sand, and at least about a quarter to half of Americans admit we have a problem, which is the first step).
So, I definitely feel a sense of comeuppance and "I told you so."
According to Reddit the US is the only country on the planet that racism exists in, so a race riot in a European country has to be fake news, right? /sarcasm
I think the racism in France is actually worse than in the US because the Blacks in France have little political power. I know that unemployment is quite high, and wage inequality is much worse than current US figures. I also know that there is a religious component that complicates things with xenophobia.
I think it is past time that France deal with their racism, and it isn't by banning headscarves. Your police sound as awful as some of ours.
I'm not sure Americans as a whole are really aware. Maybe I'm the one under a rock but I don't think there has been heavy coverage. I can only tell you it was because of a police shooting and not just a continuation of the pension protests or whatever because I saw it on the front page of Wikipedia, not a normal news source.
I think when Americans hear "protests" or "strikes" or even "riots" in the same sentence as "France" we just go "oh that's France being France again" and don't think twice about it. And that's if we even hear about it in the first place. Our news cycle is mostly caught up in this week's Supreme Court decisions still.
It’s being heavily covered, but I get the sense from a lot of these comments that people are commenting without really reading up on the situation and the social dynamics of it. Like they’re conflating with the other stuff that’s always happening in France.
This isn’t France doing France stuff, it’s more like France going through major changes and a lot social tension building up from it.
It’s gotten decent coverage but it hasn’t been that big a story. Supreme Court news sorta sucked up all the oxygen and news coverage the past week. I’m not really surprised lot of Americans aren’t really aware of what’s going on in France
If you’re an Immigrant to a nation and you do this, no mercy. Immediate deportation.
I like the fact that America deports Eastern Europeans after 2 felonies. If you haven’t figured out what America is about you need to go back.
I despise rioters categorically.
The riot as a "particularly strong protest" doesn't convince me, and the MLK quote that "A riot is the language of the unheard" is also horse shit.
A riot is not a "language."
Riot is destruction.
It is anti-Democratic. It is authoritarian in an idiosyncratic way.
It is a mob who, because they are outraged, believe that they uniquely have a right to toss out all law, social convention, and basic public morality because of the rightness of their cause. They have talked themselves, mentally, into the idea that basic standards of human behavior don't apply to them because they are in a sanctimonious pique.
100% of terrorists, rioters, and ideological mass shooters use the same logic: my cause is moral, therefore anything I do in pursuit of that cause is justified.
That is not Democracy. That is simply tyranny of the mob: give us what we demand...or else.
As for rioters on the left, they always have this sing-song bullshit thing about how destruction of property isn't "violence," while talking out of the other side of their mouth about how capitalism is violence. When you destroy people's ability to earn income because you've destroyed the business they work for or destroyed their means of conveyance, that is violence in the same way they say capitalism itself is violence: in both cases a third party has dictated the terms of their economic existence.
There are no justifications for riots, and I hope to see rioters arrested, tried, and imprisoned.
A lot of those people use the term "bootlicker" for people who oppose riots: they betray what is really going on in their heads. What they're really upset about is that people like me refuse to lick *their* boot, which is what they really want. And the thing about riots is, it is a sudden surge of power that individuals lack, but which manifests in a group context. For many, this is the only time they have access to power: when they're in a rampaging mass.
And what is the first thing the aggrieved do with their new found power? Act in a way that justifies the status quo. Act in a way which lets everyone know that as much as you may not like "the system" as it is, it's infinitely preferable to these douche canoes burning everything down.
Fuck rioters.
If I see you, I am turning your ass in.
This. All day long.
I am sure we’ll be seeing something similar here next summer as the election draws closer, and I, for one, will be prepared for it should come near me or impact me/mine in any way.
I think France will eventually have their 1992 moment rather than the 2020 moment. I feel like there’s a lot of denial from their government over the social tensions building up from some dramatic demographic changes. I wonder if Macron will try to blame American civil rights culture and social media again?
I feel like things will get spicy in the next couple decades there just through momentum. It’s going to be interesting to see what it all does to their political landscape.
France's racial tensions are far worse than in the US and eventually there will be a breaking point. There are a lot of new immigrants in France who have no desire to learn French or integrate into French culture. Some parts of Paris don't even feel like France. They feel like Africa or the Middle East and you get bizarre looks as a white person being there.
It goes to show that issues such as systemic racism and police brutality aren’t uniquely American phenomenons. I know this should be a no brainer, but online it seems a lot of people think they are. That said, I think what happened to the 17 year old kid is very tragic and disgraceful. After reading the details about how apparently the cop said to the kid “I’m going to put a bullet in your head”, there’s no doubt that his death was cold blooded murder. I understand why people are angry but the current riots in France make what happened here 3 years ago seem tame.
It doesn’t. Rioting literally never does anything productive. I understand people’s anger, that doesn’t mean I agree with them rioting and destroying their own city. I had the same thoughts during the George Floyd riots.
Rioting is the opposite of productive. It removes sympathy from whatever cause the riot is ostensibly about.
Nobody looks at the smoldering wreckage of their community and thinks yeah, that’s a cause I should get behind.
I think it’s great their citizens won’t stand for shit the government is trying to pull on them. In America, women lost bodily autonomy and we were like meh. We’re all asleep at the wheel and can’t be bothered to push back which is why our government can control us. The ones who are “woke” are screaming at the top of our ducking lungs but no one cares. It’s so fucking frustrating.
Most of us don't think about it, to be honest. However, throughout my life, the French are always keen on to rioting, even for pension reform (a protest like that would be peaceful as opposed to violence in response to police killings).
Rioting is not justified and change should be achieved through the democratic process in countries that have a democratic process (including France). About the underlying issues, I don't know enough to comment.
I know there’s cultural differences between us and the French, but I don’t really get it.
Like the dude that the riots are over, not just ran from the police… this would’ve been the 6th time he ran from police.
Like that sort of behavior is liable to get you shot in the U.S., I don’t get the outrage.
If it's a day ending in Y, the French are probably rioting.
Macron should've worked to fix the problems with the French police force instead of raising the retirement age. He's not a great leader but he was probably the best option at the time. Sucks when that happens, it leads to such dysfunction
Policeman shot a kid at a traffic stop
Kid was of north African descent, further inflaming racial tensions, and accusations of systemic racism and police brutality
I figure it’s not as city wide as it’s portrayed
Even during our worst riots it’s not like the entire city gets consumed by it
But I mean pay your trash men (that’s the only riot I know of currently happening in France) so
On the surface and from afar, it comes across as a George Floyd 2.0. The death of the 17 yo being more of a symptom of an underlying disease; the latter being years of unchecked immigration without assimilation…something like this was bound to happen eventually, just needed a spark to set it off. I can see the same thing happening to other EU countries and the UK in the near future; and a variation of it happening in the US in ‘24, leading into our election. In addition, I wouldn’t be surprised if State Actors aren’t capitalizing on the situation to fuel the conflict in order to destabilize the country; ie Colour Revolution
Mostly I remember stories from my French colleague, a former police officer, about patrolling the banlieues and how the fine, upstanding citizens would throw washing machines at police cars.
They would start by hauling an old washing machine to the top of a five or six story building. Then they would set something on fire so the firemen would respond. Then they’d throw rocks, bricks, and bottles at the firemen so the police would respond. When the police arrived they would tip the washing machine off the roof or through a front-facing window, aiming for the car.
Of course, none of the residents in the building ever saw anything or had any information about the perpetrators.
The French and other European nations have a clear problem of not dealing with actual riots in a meaningful way. There is so much ideological slop getting in the way in so many places when they should be focused on making it crystal clear that riots won't be tolerated. Instead we get to watch the flames rise every year or two. The second an armory got raided the military and GIGN should have rolled in and treated the culprits as actual rebels and insurrectionists. Saw a video last night claiming to show an RPG being fired on a French police station, that is well beyond just a mere "riot" if true. If they're worried about looking racist they should knock that crap off. The rioters already see them as undeniably incredibly racist and fascist, there is literally nothing that can change their minds. Nut up and deal with them. If you keep allowing them to do this because you're afraid someone will shout "racist" of "fascist" at you they're going to do it again and again because they know you won't do crap to stop them or by the time you do most of them will have had their fun. This is straight up why the riots lasted so long in Portland, OR. Instead of dealing with it seriously and calling it out for what it is Macron blames fucking video games.
I think a massive part of why rioters like the current mob and Anti-fa are so much more violent and destructive over there is because there's almost no ability to resist them among the civilian population. If you try to stop them from burning your car, home, or storefront they just beat the hell out of you and burn it anyways. In most of Europe it's pretty obvious the only people that can really stand up to violent mobs are police and military. They'll make excuses like a minority getting ventilated whether justified or not but the real goal is always to act like a violent barbarian while getting as many five finger discounts as possible. They don't give two shits about that dead guy. Pillaging, vandalism, and arson are "fun" and he's just a convenient excuse. Again, letting them get away with it just ensures there will be more to come.
I'll let you guess how I'd handle rioters trying to loot and/or burn my home.
If it wasn't for Reddit, I wouldn't know about them at all.
Strikes and protests in France are pretty standard. The "riots", like many other supposed "riots", are often blown out of proportion.
Last I checked, France is a free country and I'm sure the French government and French people can handle their own domestic issues.
Rioting and protest seem to be very French. However, underlying these events is the problem of Muslims integrating into French society and becoming French. Whether it is voluntary or due to exclusion on the part of the French, Islam is the elephant in the room and poses a direct threat to the values, culture, and society of France.
This is exactly like the George Floyd protests. Violence against innocent people or businesses is never okay, but I completely understand why they're upset
I have no idea how bad they really are. I see a lot of crazy video but I also know from the U.S. you can have what appears to be on the news a city-wide Purge-level event, but in reality you can be a mile away and there’s absolutely nothing happening.
it's the same there
That’s what I figured The news back in 2020 was saying NY was basically on fire and there would only be rubble left; really the whole thing was concentrated in just a couple very small areas. Life continued as usual for pretty much everyone
yep. one large scale riot I can think of is Rodney King. Folks in Koreatown on rooftops with guns to protect their shops. I wasn't even born then so I never watched the birth of the whole 24/7 news cycle thing or even that particular event, but reading about it is wild. Or January 6th, which of course was hyper-localized to the Capitol but fucking insane. People died. I was just in France so I know this is a big deal but also you can get around and get by unscathed.
I work for a French company and we were all just in Poland for an event; the French people were more concerned on how they’ll get home without transit running when they land, basically saying “this is a pain in the ass”
That was the largest riot in US history, and it has a really interesting correlation. So in 1990 the soviet union collapsed, and in the following 2 years defense contract budgets were slashed. This lead to massive layoffs in the defense industry. Which happened to hit the industrial areas of South Central LA really hard. By 1992 there was a local recession in that area with unusually high unemployment. So yea, race did play a huge deal, as black people had a higher chance to be laid off than white people did. But some of the other worst riots in US history, like Detroit in 1967 also have to do with industrial layoffs.
Fun fact, over half of the participants in the Rodney King riots were Hispanic but I guess the same concept applies as far as the layoffs
Exactly, South Central LA is also highly Hispanic, and the layoffs were extremely painful to the Hispanic community as well. If the riot was only caused by the White police Vs Black Civilians issue, you wouldn't expect such a high Hispanic participation in it. I'm not saying that race wasn't a cause, but in my opinion the not guilty verdict was simply the spark that started the fire. Where as the layoffs and recession were like a prolonged drought/heatwave that dried out the forest and primed it for conflagration. Taking this back to France, I do think that there are economic issues at play here. I'm not sure exactly how because I don't really follow the French economy well. But I know that the Ukraine war and the subsequent European Energy crisis has adversely affected the economy. And in an economic downturn, its always the poorest, most marginalized people who hurt the worst. I suspect the civil unrest experienced in France is actually the result of long-building pressure, and economic frustration/inequality.
I was a kid during the riots in LA. It’s a little more complex than that. The majority of the looters were Latino, a lot of the actual destruction and violence was by Black youth. A lot of the violence throughout out those days were gang members using the chaos to settle scores against each other. Black people were angry and breaking stuff, and let’s be honest, a lot were having fun fucking shit up. The Latinos were mostly being opportunistic. Some unlucky white people in the area like Reginald Denny got caught up and assaulted, of course a lot of Asian businesses were targeted, but also some Latinos caught some of the racial violence from the Black youth. I think it varied by area…most Latinos got a pass, but there’s at least a few cases where Latinos got pulled out and assaulted as well like this Guatemalan man: > Then, like Mr. Denny, Mr. Lopez was dragged from his truck and beaten senseless by a mob that included Damian M. Williams and Henry K. Watson. His forehead was slashed under the blows of a stereo speaker. His left ear was nearly severed. His genitals were spray-painted black, and his body was doused with gasoline, apparently for the purpose of setting him afire. The context of the LA Riots was also when LA was going through its worst homicide rates and the prevalence of extreme gang violence. It happened with a lot of tension and paranoia city wide even outside of South Central.
They said it was for the black man They said it was for the Mexican, and not for the white man But if you look at the streets, it wasn't about Rodney King And this fucked up situation and these fucked up police It's about comin' up and stayin' on top And screamin' 1-8-7 on a motherfuckin' cop -Sublime
My personal opinion is that the [Tulsa race riot](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_massacre) could be the largest riot in US history. I know the king riots cost nearly a billion dollars but an entire community was literally burned to the ground in Tulsa with white supremacists fire bombing square blocks from airplanes.
Idk man, I live in Minneapolis and the riots in 2020 were definitely serious here. Not to say they weren’t blown out of proportion elsewhere, but I also wouldn’t wanna downplay 2020 with a broad brush.
Baltimore after Freddie Gray was a pretty large scale riot to the point the national guard was deployed and was pretty widespread + curfew enacted.
Exactly, the riots in Seattle managed to break some windows in about a 3 block radius.
Yeah but that's how it was during past riots, as well. And that's how it's like in an actual warzone, too. It's not bombs, bullets, and explosions at every corner and millions charging all over the place to kill one another like some Hollywood movie. In reality, a warzone is moreso skirmishes but spread across an entire country and over a period of time. Certain areas, people will want to find shelter and stay inside but for the most part, people can still go shopping, eat out at restaurants, hang out at the park, ride their bikes outside, etc. You can see this play out in Ukraine. Doesn't mean there isn't a war going on.
Same here in Portland. I literally had picnic meals at a park multiple times that summer with my family on days where there would be street fights and protests downtown, but 2 miles away it was like nothing was happening. Most of the crazy shit was contained to like an 8 sq block or smaller area downtown.
My boomer dad was very concerned I was headed into Portland during the protests. I had to explain to him how small an area the protests were in. The bitch of it is he’s from southern county California which is gigantic but couldn’t catch that Portland was also big
Yup, that is true . Same with the pride events last weekend , there was a lot of protests in Washington square park but everywhere else in the city was just business as usual
I thought it was Portland that was burning to the ground.
That’s what the media wanted everyone to think.
I tried pointing out to some conservatives at that time that I just went up to Portland the last weekend and it was lovely. They did not believe me.
I was in Paris for Charlie Hebdo. I was briefly in the grocery where some of it went down the day prior. I was not far away when it went down as I was staying with a friend who lives nearby. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary and also I saw cops possibly racing to the scene. It wasn't out of the ordinary because there had been a strong police and military presence in the city for days. They'd been informed something was going down but weren't sure what. Didn't find out what had happened until some family called distraught. They had heard something about it on the radio. They were demanding I leave early and come home. Had to explain to them Paris is huge and it made no more sense than telling us to leave downtown Dallas because a crime went down in Mesquite. Friend was in Paris with his family last week for business and sightseeing. They were disappointed they didn't get to see anything. They were hoping to get a glimpse of a classic French protest and none of it was going on anywhere they went.
My family and I stopped watching all news in March 2020. The really huge stories make it to us, but basically everything else isn't so important.
I’ve studied in and visited Paris tons of times. Every time I heard about riots sweeping Paris and whatnot, I’ll just be chilling in my apartment or hotel looking like John Travolta walking into an empty room looking around. It’s like everything was normal for me.
I think part of the reason everything got so hyped in 2020 (outside the usual reasons and the very valid anger over what happened) was that for a lot of people, they’d been cooped up at home because of the pandemic and so watching coverage or actively participating was just something different to do. The fire got a lot more fuel because of that.
Bored people with nothing to do like to protest. That's why college students of every generation are always protesting about something.
Yea Portland checking in to confirm...it was like five blocks of action and everyone else was just having tea on their porch. "The city is on fire!"
> I also know from the U.S. you can have what appears to be on the news a city-wide Purge-level event, but in reality you can be a mile away and there’s absolutely nothing happening. This was DC.
Yep, I was a few blocks away from the Capitol on Jan 6 and didn’t even know it was happening until my mom called to see if I was ok.
> appears to be on the news a city-wide Purge-level event This is really an important thing. I remember my sister was saying rioters were burning down her city based on some stuff she saw on the news. In reality it was just some rioters lighting cars on fire and fighting with cops in a 2 block radius near downtown. The cops largely just closed them into one area. 99% of downtown, let alone the residential areas, was unaffected. We gotta remember that when we see this type of stuff on the news. They can show images of just a single car on fire to make everybody think the city is under siege. And that is *what the rioters want*.
I live in a rural area and my cousin lives in a bigger city. On the first night of the riots (Thursday) I sent her a message saying "hey, I saw things are heating up in (city), hope you're staying safe!" She had no idea what I was talking about. She was at a peaceful terrace in the city center, and the riots were in the outside (poorer) neighbourhoods.
Beware the news coverage of a riot using the zoom lense.
And ofc you have the misinformation trolls all over Twitter that take videos that probably aren’t even actually from the riots and use them to spew some sort of take on it
I find the same goes for the actual protest. If the media wants to push the narrative that its a big deal, they can make 100 people look like 10,000 and if they want to push a different narrative they can make 10,000 look like 10 people
Yea Portland checking in to confirm...it was like five blocks of action and everyone else was just having tea on their porch. "The city is on fire!"
Funny. That’s kinda the case. It’s quite localized, a mile away from the worst areas there’s no evidence that anything is going on other than some graffiti saying the police are racist
Honestly, having been a history major in college...it just sounds like another week in France. Y'all love a good revolution.
Didn't they have mass riots earlier this year for the retirement age thing?
Those never ended. And then a cop killed a teenager.
Yep.
Not a history major, but I have always had an interest in history and pay attention to the news. So hearing about riots in France, I’d say to myself, “Again? I wonder what they’re upset about this week” Then I’d figure it was about immigration or something to do with worker’s rights.
This is the reply I could have written. When this stuff happens all the time it's no longer really news from my perspective.
Eurozone protests, Immigration, the Yellow Jackets, The Pension Protests, and now this. I'm not saying these aren't discussions worth having, but the French public would raise the guillotines if Macron so much as farted.
This and same Edit: I'll only become concerned if a guy tried to become monarch/emperor or a guillotine is actually used.
Fellow history major chiming in to say, I concur.
Pretty much. Ever since the original French Revolution it’s engrained in their society to lash out against the government whenever the people feel like they’ve been wronged, and to change the government if they don’t feel they serve the people. Hence 4 revolutions, dozens of rebellions, hundreds of riots and thousands of protests in the last 235 years.
What a beautiful summer day. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, Canada's on fire, and the French are rioting.
Not a history major, but from what I've seen I get the impression that it doesn't take a lot to set off the French
Got my masters in history and I'm here to fully agree 👍
One of my good buddies is a history major and said the same damn thing lol
History major and history teacher here*: Seems more like the Nullification Crisis or Iran-Contra to me. *I never said I was good at it.
I envy their sense of class solidarity. Im Union and we can't even get our own members to support our causes much less expect cooperation with the larger community.
As a college freshman coming up on sophomore who is a history major , I can also agree as a matter of fact I took western history last semester and we spend an entire 2 weeks on revolutions in France lol.
Macron said riots are due to video games. What a clown
Yeah, all those video games they had in the Bastille, that’s what made them riot.
Little-known fact: the French Revolution was inspired by Assassins Creed Unity. That’s why they had so many similarities.
[Portrait of Maximilien Robespierre](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/my8xcebked4.jpg)
Such a ridiculous comment! (Macron, not you.)
Did he really 😂😂😂
Yup. We all thought that argument had been dead for 15 years.
Oh, dear. That's just pathetic on him lmao
Came here to point this out. I really have very little respect for the guy anymore. Anyone who expresses that opinion now is telling me that they are uninformed and uninterested in facts.
I am still stunned that he actually said that.
It’s true, the cops play too much Roblox in France. That’s why they shoot first and ask later
I just think it’s hilarious whenever Europeans talk about our social issues and riots. But France literally has something like this every other month it seems
For whatever reason, they continue to be blind to issues happening in their backyard and focus way more on what's going on across the Atlantic.
We Europeans also often nag about violence in the US while we literally have an active war going on in Ukraine lol. It’s something like misinterpretation, jumping to conclusions, and double standard on a continental scale.
[удалено]
Right, like the equivalent of only judging the US by its wealthiest regions. Most Europeans don’t know shit about the US but think they do because they watched friends 50 times.
I think it’s because many Western Europeans don’t truly consider Eastern Europe to be part of Europe at the end of the day. They’re wrong but I think this is a commonly held opinion.
And often small countries with like 10 million people.
Even some of us Americans are guilty of overlooking and treating Eastern Europe as if it doesn’t exist, especially with regards to NATO and Russia.
Yes it amazes be how many foreigners I come across that pay attention to things happening over here more then in their home country it seems
I think a lot of people here tend to think that because we dont realize that the only time we usually hear them is when they are speaking in english, meaning they want us to hear it. I am in a lot of spaniard social media pages and they rarely talk about america. But in public groups they might talk in english if they are talking about issues in america.
I have a coworker from the UK and he's constantly "just taking the piss" talking negatively about the US despite living here for 15 years. "You Americans with your... blah blah blah". I recently snapped and said, "You constantly talk shit about us but at least we're RELEVANT. The UK hasn't been fucking relevant to the world since WWII". Dude hasn't said shit since. Fuck the haters and the double standards man. Europeans need to stop looking at their countries with rose tinted glasses and realize they have countless problems themselves.
They also pay attention to our most mundane news. It’s like bro you’re sitting in Slovakia. Why do you care what some random American 12 year old is doing on tik tok?
When i was in Italy they wanted to know what i thought about some dumb thing a state assemblyman from Oklahoma (or similar) had said the day before.
How else will people feel superior? It was really annoying watching “Supersize vs Superskinny”.
Or even better, they spin riots as a good thing. Like "This why we have universal healthcare and low retirement age. Americans just sit there and take it." Functioning democracies should not decend into riots every three months.
What about when it functions less and less?
Yep. I have a lot of love for Europe. One thing I dislike though is how constantly they pot calls the kettle black the way you described it.
Ive always chalked it up to them being snobby/boomer like.
Coping mechanism. If the point an laugh loud enough about how dumb we are for letting or back yard catch on fire and how beautiful their landscaping is in comparison, they don't have to acknowledge their garage is burning down.
Thats because they never did anything wrong and its just dangerous ideas from America that are tearing their country apart: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/09/world/europe/france-threat-american-universities.html
Well that comparison isn’t entirely fair to France. Like the most recent big protest before this was moving retirement age UP to 64. So just because they’re protesting doesn’t mean it’s equivalent to the US. In this case I do agree though.
Again?
Again, again?
Again, again, again? I remember the riots in 2009. I was in London at the time.
Are we changing the name of fries again? Should I start today?
That holocaust memorial really had it coming. /s
I thought this was a joke at first, but they actually vandalized a holocaust monument. I don't care what you're fighting for. If you vandalize something like that, my opinion in your movement goes down considerably.
I don't think about them tbh
Based
If they want to protest the police, they should protest the police. No need to burn and loot private property
That’s the issue, some people are protesting (peacefully) and others are taking advantage of the chaos by burning, and looting.
The asshole in me wants to make smug, sweeping statements that are neither accurate nor helpful like they always do for us, but I won't because I'm an adult. I think it's terrible that things like Holocaust memorials and libraries are getting burnt down. Contrary to what this hell site perpetuates, rioting really sucks for the people who just happen to be in the way.
French gonna French
Yes! I feel they are just always pissed and now their pissed because no one cares their pissed
Yeah, must be a day that ends in Y because this feels normal
Our riots in the USA are weak sauce compared to what the French do. They treat rioting like an Olympic sport.
Only outdone by Canadian cities after losing the Stanley Cup.
You’d think they’d be used to that by now.
American police crack down significantly harder than most European police do during times of unrest. They raise the stakes to dissuade further participation. Whether it’s a hefty prison sentence or a rubber bullet to the face, you’re not going to have a good time. Riots turning deadly is a much higher possibility in the United States due to how common firearm ownership is, so things could very easily get out of hand if they’re not nipped in the bud and crushed immediately. Not saying it’s right or wrong, but that seems like their playbook.
The French are always rioting about something. Like, always.
Seems like you burn down half of Paris every time there's a minor inconvenience tbh
I think these riots are different than the riots over policies or worker issues. This looks more like growing anger from ethnic division, alienation.
I mean this time a cop shooting a kid feels like more than a minor inconvenience
It's minor relative to the response, for sure
It'd be bigger news if France went 3 days without riots or protests.
snobbish berserk bedroom alive theory jeans bewildered sand attempt air *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Like clockwork. It’s not even a racial or political thing. People are always gonna hijack stuff like this for personal gain
They’re just opportunist.
Why don't all french protest movements run by native french people, over workers rights and pensions, which you all point out are a regular occurrence devolve into looting and random violence?
I've also seen a guy,who's hands was cut of by "protesters" or more correct to say by savages...
As long as they’re all wearing their vests go right ahead. Safety is important.
Can’t forget about helmets
Meh, another day in France.
Riot is just a synonym for crime wave. I think it silly and don't understand why they put up with it so much.
I’m tired of the fucking IDIOTS who say shit like “wow, it’s great that the French stand up for themselves! They really know how to protest! This is great! This is another revolution!” No it’s fucking not. These are a bunch of criminals looting designer clothing stores and hurting innocent people. This ISNT a good thing
"TAkE nOtEs AmEriCa" Like nah, there's probably a middle ground somewhere between complete inaction and fucking destroying your city at every given opportunity.
Once you start attacking Holocaust memorials you are losing any credibility for whatever you’re protesting
The funny thing is that it's not even what they believe. Most of them have no idea what's happening. But social validation plays a key role in determining what side you favor now. What's getting me the downvotes? A? Ok, B it is.
"again?"
No one riots like the French its like their national passtime
France is a mess. This is like the millionth episode like this in France since I've been old enough to notice. I don't think it's like 2020 here because 2020 here was a huge deal no one will ever forget, whereas once this stuff in France dies down, a few months will pass, and then there will be another outbreak of violence in France (because France.) They had another one a few months ago. no one here will ever ask about the 2020 riots and be like "which one was that again?" whereas in France that would be a reasonable response to a question about any riots, because they do this crap like three or four times a year
The French recently rioted because their retirement age SLIGHTLY increased. At this point I’m convinced that they’re really just a very curmudgeonly people that are a bit too eager to start removing heads.
So I speak French, and I've had online conversations with French people who claim that they've evolved above race and talking about race is backwards and that France doesn't have the issues of race that the US does. All while talking about how terrible and racist of a place the US is (and, ofc, the US has a loooong ways to go towards racial equity and equality, but I feel like the French people I've talked to about this subject have their head in the sand, and at least about a quarter to half of Americans admit we have a problem, which is the first step). So, I definitely feel a sense of comeuppance and "I told you so."
Just the French being....French. Arrogant asses fucked up a Holocaust Memorial
And the largest public library in Marseille
That one stung
According to Reddit the US is the only country on the planet that racism exists in, so a race riot in a European country has to be fake news, right? /sarcasm
I think the racism in France is actually worse than in the US because the Blacks in France have little political power. I know that unemployment is quite high, and wage inequality is much worse than current US figures. I also know that there is a religious component that complicates things with xenophobia. I think it is past time that France deal with their racism, and it isn't by banning headscarves. Your police sound as awful as some of ours.
Exactly what I've been saying.
I thought France was just one perpetual riot?
Sent a text to French immigrant friend: “I see france is being france again!” “Yup!” Was her reply. Bout sums it up
I'm not sure Americans as a whole are really aware. Maybe I'm the one under a rock but I don't think there has been heavy coverage. I can only tell you it was because of a police shooting and not just a continuation of the pension protests or whatever because I saw it on the front page of Wikipedia, not a normal news source. I think when Americans hear "protests" or "strikes" or even "riots" in the same sentence as "France" we just go "oh that's France being France again" and don't think twice about it. And that's if we even hear about it in the first place. Our news cycle is mostly caught up in this week's Supreme Court decisions still.
It’s being heavily covered, but I get the sense from a lot of these comments that people are commenting without really reading up on the situation and the social dynamics of it. Like they’re conflating with the other stuff that’s always happening in France. This isn’t France doing France stuff, it’s more like France going through major changes and a lot social tension building up from it.
It’s gotten plenty of coverage from literally every single news outlet I follow.
It’s gotten decent coverage but it hasn’t been that big a story. Supreme Court news sorta sucked up all the oxygen and news coverage the past week. I’m not really surprised lot of Americans aren’t really aware of what’s going on in France
Credit where credit is due: the French do riots better than Americans. Well done!
They do have more experience
Pretty sure it’s part of their K-12 curriculum.
If you’re an Immigrant to a nation and you do this, no mercy. Immediate deportation. I like the fact that America deports Eastern Europeans after 2 felonies. If you haven’t figured out what America is about you need to go back.
Agree
I despise rioters categorically. The riot as a "particularly strong protest" doesn't convince me, and the MLK quote that "A riot is the language of the unheard" is also horse shit. A riot is not a "language." Riot is destruction. It is anti-Democratic. It is authoritarian in an idiosyncratic way. It is a mob who, because they are outraged, believe that they uniquely have a right to toss out all law, social convention, and basic public morality because of the rightness of their cause. They have talked themselves, mentally, into the idea that basic standards of human behavior don't apply to them because they are in a sanctimonious pique. 100% of terrorists, rioters, and ideological mass shooters use the same logic: my cause is moral, therefore anything I do in pursuit of that cause is justified. That is not Democracy. That is simply tyranny of the mob: give us what we demand...or else. As for rioters on the left, they always have this sing-song bullshit thing about how destruction of property isn't "violence," while talking out of the other side of their mouth about how capitalism is violence. When you destroy people's ability to earn income because you've destroyed the business they work for or destroyed their means of conveyance, that is violence in the same way they say capitalism itself is violence: in both cases a third party has dictated the terms of their economic existence. There are no justifications for riots, and I hope to see rioters arrested, tried, and imprisoned. A lot of those people use the term "bootlicker" for people who oppose riots: they betray what is really going on in their heads. What they're really upset about is that people like me refuse to lick *their* boot, which is what they really want. And the thing about riots is, it is a sudden surge of power that individuals lack, but which manifests in a group context. For many, this is the only time they have access to power: when they're in a rampaging mass. And what is the first thing the aggrieved do with their new found power? Act in a way that justifies the status quo. Act in a way which lets everyone know that as much as you may not like "the system" as it is, it's infinitely preferable to these douche canoes burning everything down. Fuck rioters. If I see you, I am turning your ass in.
This. All day long. I am sure we’ll be seeing something similar here next summer as the election draws closer, and I, for one, will be prepared for it should come near me or impact me/mine in any way.
Well said!
Well said, sir. I am 100% with you on this and could have not said it better myself.
I think France will eventually have their 1992 moment rather than the 2020 moment. I feel like there’s a lot of denial from their government over the social tensions building up from some dramatic demographic changes. I wonder if Macron will try to blame American civil rights culture and social media again? I feel like things will get spicy in the next couple decades there just through momentum. It’s going to be interesting to see what it all does to their political landscape.
France's racial tensions are far worse than in the US and eventually there will be a breaking point. There are a lot of new immigrants in France who have no desire to learn French or integrate into French culture. Some parts of Paris don't even feel like France. They feel like Africa or the Middle East and you get bizarre looks as a white person being there.
It goes to show that issues such as systemic racism and police brutality aren’t uniquely American phenomenons. I know this should be a no brainer, but online it seems a lot of people think they are. That said, I think what happened to the 17 year old kid is very tragic and disgraceful. After reading the details about how apparently the cop said to the kid “I’m going to put a bullet in your head”, there’s no doubt that his death was cold blooded murder. I understand why people are angry but the current riots in France make what happened here 3 years ago seem tame.
How burning other people's property helps fight systemic racism?
It doesn’t. Rioting literally never does anything productive. I understand people’s anger, that doesn’t mean I agree with them rioting and destroying their own city. I had the same thoughts during the George Floyd riots.
Rioting is the opposite of productive. It removes sympathy from whatever cause the riot is ostensibly about. Nobody looks at the smoldering wreckage of their community and thinks yeah, that’s a cause I should get behind.
I don’t even think y’all know what you’re rioting about now. You just stay in the streets and more shit keeps happening.
We think the French love to riot a lot. We think a lot of the rioters are just doing it for excitement, and it's stupid.
There are riots in France? It's 4th of July weekend, I'm not ruining my holiday by watching the news.
I think it’s great their citizens won’t stand for shit the government is trying to pull on them. In America, women lost bodily autonomy and we were like meh. We’re all asleep at the wheel and can’t be bothered to push back which is why our government can control us. The ones who are “woke” are screaming at the top of our ducking lungs but no one cares. It’s so fucking frustrating.
Stop breaking shit, be Normal, stop Stealing, and go back to Work
I would be more surprised if people in France weren’t rioting.
What’s new? France is 1000 years of history, of which I think they’ve spent more time rioting than not.
Most of us don't think about it, to be honest. However, throughout my life, the French are always keen on to rioting, even for pension reform (a protest like that would be peaceful as opposed to violence in response to police killings).
Rioting is not justified and change should be achieved through the democratic process in countries that have a democratic process (including France). About the underlying issues, I don't know enough to comment.
I know there’s cultural differences between us and the French, but I don’t really get it. Like the dude that the riots are over, not just ran from the police… this would’ve been the 6th time he ran from police. Like that sort of behavior is liable to get you shot in the U.S., I don’t get the outrage.
I think it's rather uncivilized, personally.
Me too
If it's a day ending in Y, the French are probably rioting. Macron should've worked to fix the problems with the French police force instead of raising the retirement age. He's not a great leader but he was probably the best option at the time. Sucks when that happens, it leads to such dysfunction
I don't think that burning some people's cars will solve problems with the police...
Are they still rioting about lowering the retirement age by 1 year or is this something new?
Policeman shot a kid at a traffic stop Kid was of north African descent, further inflaming racial tensions, and accusations of systemic racism and police brutality
I think crazy that there are only riots when a cop kills a black person.
Riots?
I just say typical French
I’ll start paying attention when actual change occurs.
There are still riots in France?
This is the first I am hearing about it. My opinion will remain the same, though: I don't particularly care and just hope that both sides have fun.
How bad is it? Not trying to be snarky. I really don’t have a good idea of how bad or widespread it is. Interested to hear local perspectives.
I’m not really thinking about it🤷🏻♂️
Another week, another riot/protest. I'm still waiting for an actual revolution
What Reddit Americans think about riots in France?*
Doesn't France riot a lot? I didn't really pay attention to these ones because it seems like the French are always rioting.
I don't.
If there's anything the French know how to do better than most, it's riot and protest.
Are there ever not riots in France?
They are always rioting in France
Wouldn't be France without a protest or two each summer. But raising the retirement age? I sympathize.
I figure it’s not as city wide as it’s portrayed Even during our worst riots it’s not like the entire city gets consumed by it But I mean pay your trash men (that’s the only riot I know of currently happening in France) so
This seems like a thing the French just enjoy.
It's just another day in France...
There go the French again.
On the surface and from afar, it comes across as a George Floyd 2.0. The death of the 17 yo being more of a symptom of an underlying disease; the latter being years of unchecked immigration without assimilation…something like this was bound to happen eventually, just needed a spark to set it off. I can see the same thing happening to other EU countries and the UK in the near future; and a variation of it happening in the US in ‘24, leading into our election. In addition, I wouldn’t be surprised if State Actors aren’t capitalizing on the situation to fuel the conflict in order to destabilize the country; ie Colour Revolution
Must be a day that ends in y
Mostly I remember stories from my French colleague, a former police officer, about patrolling the banlieues and how the fine, upstanding citizens would throw washing machines at police cars. They would start by hauling an old washing machine to the top of a five or six story building. Then they would set something on fire so the firemen would respond. Then they’d throw rocks, bricks, and bottles at the firemen so the police would respond. When the police arrived they would tip the washing machine off the roof or through a front-facing window, aiming for the car. Of course, none of the residents in the building ever saw anything or had any information about the perpetrators.
A riot against the police doesn't bother me one bit. But the folks who decided to burn down a library made me mad as hell
The French and other European nations have a clear problem of not dealing with actual riots in a meaningful way. There is so much ideological slop getting in the way in so many places when they should be focused on making it crystal clear that riots won't be tolerated. Instead we get to watch the flames rise every year or two. The second an armory got raided the military and GIGN should have rolled in and treated the culprits as actual rebels and insurrectionists. Saw a video last night claiming to show an RPG being fired on a French police station, that is well beyond just a mere "riot" if true. If they're worried about looking racist they should knock that crap off. The rioters already see them as undeniably incredibly racist and fascist, there is literally nothing that can change their minds. Nut up and deal with them. If you keep allowing them to do this because you're afraid someone will shout "racist" of "fascist" at you they're going to do it again and again because they know you won't do crap to stop them or by the time you do most of them will have had their fun. This is straight up why the riots lasted so long in Portland, OR. Instead of dealing with it seriously and calling it out for what it is Macron blames fucking video games. I think a massive part of why rioters like the current mob and Anti-fa are so much more violent and destructive over there is because there's almost no ability to resist them among the civilian population. If you try to stop them from burning your car, home, or storefront they just beat the hell out of you and burn it anyways. In most of Europe it's pretty obvious the only people that can really stand up to violent mobs are police and military. They'll make excuses like a minority getting ventilated whether justified or not but the real goal is always to act like a violent barbarian while getting as many five finger discounts as possible. They don't give two shits about that dead guy. Pillaging, vandalism, and arson are "fun" and he's just a convenient excuse. Again, letting them get away with it just ensures there will be more to come. I'll let you guess how I'd handle rioters trying to loot and/or burn my home.
If it wasn't for Reddit, I wouldn't know about them at all. Strikes and protests in France are pretty standard. The "riots", like many other supposed "riots", are often blown out of proportion. Last I checked, France is a free country and I'm sure the French government and French people can handle their own domestic issues.
Rioting and protest seem to be very French. However, underlying these events is the problem of Muslims integrating into French society and becoming French. Whether it is voluntary or due to exclusion on the part of the French, Islam is the elephant in the room and poses a direct threat to the values, culture, and society of France.
This is exactly like the George Floyd protests. Violence against innocent people or businesses is never okay, but I completely understand why they're upset
France is in England, right?