French report EP.1

The media, especially the French media, from which broadcasters in other countries then take their information and footage, distort events at the protests to a certain extent – but that is already well known. The demonisation of protesters, however, reached its peak when those who smash up and loot shops were generally labelled far-left extremists with a migrant background. On Instagram and on social networks that work on a similar algorithm, footage appears of weeping owners of small businesses in the city centre who have fallen victim to looting as an expression of disagreement with the current government. Moments later, one sees protesters setting fire to a historic building in Limoges. Is the chaos caused by protesters for equality and non-discrimination, then, merely an opportunity for many to enrich themselves, to be violent with impunity and to satisfy their violent urges?

The looting mentioned, especially that which took place on the night immediately after 17 October, really did happen, on such a scale that many shops in town centres are still boarded up. The problem is that the victims were not only large chains that symbolise capitalism as such (e.g. Apple Stores, McDonald's, ...), but also small shops whose owners had the bad luck to be located right in the centre. However, French law contains a provision (Article L211-10, Code de la sécurité intérieure) which guarantees that the state is obliged to compensate these traders if the damage they suffered was caused by protests or demonstrations. For, drawing on the tradition of the French Revolution, if residents are so dissatisfied with the state that they have to protest against how it functions, the state has only itself to blame – and so it will pay and compensate those who suffered direct damage because of its poor functioning. For the most part, however, children, students and like-minded adults did not take part in the looting. These are groups who often do not take part in protests at all, or do so not because they believe in their message but because they love violence. And this plays into the hands of the government and the far right, who are indeed trying to squeeze the greatest possible media coverage out of it. At the same time, every one of the leading politicians and organisations involved in coordinating and organising the protests condemns this looting and destruction.

Immediately after the protests on Saturday 17 October, the French government introduced a curfew in several cities. Fortunately, at least for me, while Paris had a complete ban on going out in some parts, with an army helicopter monitoring the empty streets, in Lille and nearby towns such as Douai or Arras the curfew applied only to people under 18. However, it evidently does not apply to everyone, and some will not be punished for breaking it either: a far-right organisation held its own march in Lyon at exactly the time of the curfew, in a city where it had been introduced in full. Nobody 'pelted' them with tear gas grenades, though, and they were able to walk in peace wherever they liked, without having to announce their route in advance. Many protesters from the previous day laughed through their tears (literally) that the police had not intervened against this 'manif' precisely because they are among the crowd as its supporters. After all, it is terribly hard for them to be in two places at once, enforcing order while also fighting for what they believe in.

These far-right groups, however, are not active only in such a mass and coordinated way. UNI, the youth wing of a French far-right organisation that recalls the Vichy regime with a smile and nostalgia, manages to terrorise protesters in other ways too. In front of Sciences Po Lille, my host university, a blockade made of rubbish bins dragged from the surrounding area has been set up and maintained in front of all its entrances since the beginning of the protests and the student movement. University students adjust it every morning at about 4.30–5.00 so that nobody can get in (I would stress, only with the qualifier 'comfortably'), and they camp in front of the school building until the afternoon. Apart from police cars and cars in which plain-clothes officers sat photographing these students, however, nobody else moved around the school. On Tuesday (13 October), though, the aforementioned UNI, greatly outnumbering them, literally attacked them and tried to take apart by force the blockade that my classmates had put together and were guarding. The police? They did not intervene. So the next morning, several of us, including international students, went to this blocus out of solidarity. We have nothing better to do anyway, as the school is closed. UNI, however, chose another victim the next day: the Catholic University of Lille.

Since the first larger protests, an organisation concerned with women's health has been trying to gather evidence that the tear gas used on protesters (en masse and to some extent pre-emptively; it hit me too, although I had not got within 100 metres of the police) disrupts the menstrual cycle and causes excessive pain. At first the working theory was that it was merely the stress of taking part in protests and that a change in the cycle was therefore a natural reaction to the situations in which women protesters find themselves. However, testimonies and the number of those affected keep growing, and it has emerged that the type of gas used by the police has not been sufficiently studied in this respect, unlike its immediate effect on the eyes, skin and respiratory tract. But then, who cares about women's health? Many women said that their period was not only several days late but was even among the most painful they had ever experienced.

After the end of the autumn holidays, the blockade was not resumed, at least at my university. However, this Thursday, 5 November, a general strike by several trade union movements took place under the auspices of the Yellow Vests, who are protesting mainly against low wages, living conditions, the price of fuel and the deteriorating state of public services. It was the only day of the week when the buildings of Sciences Po Lille and other campuses were closed. Around lunchtime the first large demonstrations began, in which, according to the unions, as many as 1.6 million people took part. The French Interior Ministry's nationwide estimate, however, is only 600,000 participants. In light of the events of the past few weeks, the demonstrators also expressed solidarity with secondary-school pupils and strong opposition to the far right, which uses footage from the demonstrations in its campaign.

Unfortunately, I cannot provide testimony or photos from the strike and demonstration of 5 November this time. I did not take part in Thursday's demonstration for fear of repeating my experience with tear gas, and of consequences for my health similar to those described in the previous paragraph.