2023-03-24
In the UK we don't see many reports of protests either here or elsewhere, but in Paris it has been impossible to ignore (the French do protests differently from the English, who tend not to create burning barricades in the streets - let's hope we never have to become more French in our approach).
Nominally the protests are about the raising of the retirement age, but that is essentially just the latest trigger - the gilet jaunes have been protesting for years now against a state that works against the interests of the people.
The protests have been building all over France, and now at least nominally coordinated between trades unions, students, and a wide cross-section of ordinary people.
An eyewitness account from an Englishman who was in Paris:
(10 minutes)
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For a fuller flavour of the day (Paris):
(2hrs 38 mins)
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Another view, of the protests, this time from Bordeaux:
(2 minutes)
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