Worker & Community Struggles and Protests Madrid Police "Dumbfounded" After Amazon Called The Cops On Striking Workers 22:31 Nov 27 0 comments George Soros’ Open Society Foundation unmasked in a major leak 22:31 Aug 24 1 comments Shell in court over major Corrib gas refinery flaring events. 23:32 Jul 28 0 comments Eddie Hobbs: Largest act of larceny against Irish people 23:22 Jun 02 0 comments CHASE Fundraising Events Calendar for June 23:10 Jun 01 0 comments more >>Blog Feeds
The SakerA bird's eye view of the vineyard
Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Public InquiryInterested in maladministration. Estd. 2005RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony Waiting for SIPO Anthony
Human Rights in IrelandPromoting Human Rights in Ireland
Lockdown Skeptics
News Round-Up Tue Dec 24, 2024 00:40 | Richard Eldred
Can Science Tell Us the Meaning of Life? Mon Dec 23, 2024 19:54 | Dr David Bell
Non-Crime Hate Incidents Surge in Half of Police Forces Despite Government Crackdown Mon Dec 23, 2024 17:46 | Will Jones
Reeves?s Simplistic Thinking Spawned This Budget from Hell Mon Dec 23, 2024 15:44 | David Craig
British Drivers Steering Away From New Cars In Their Droves Mon Dec 23, 2024 13:00 | Sallust |
"By Creating A Violent Situation, The French Government May Intend To Split The Anti-CPE Movement"
international |
worker & community struggles and protests |
feature
Monday March 20, 2006 15:44 by dara
A Personal Account of French anti-CPE march and riot
The metro on the way to the demo was packed, with barely breathing space; it emptied entirely at St Jacques qnd we started marching to Place Renfort for the demo. Right away it was clear that this was as big a demo as I'd ever seen, maybe Make Poverty History would be bigger, but that doesn't count. Generally people were having a good time, each party/union had their own sound system, and while some groups tried to lead their members in chants, many were content just to blare out crap french punk. Everyone was having a laugh, and les jeunes were passing around tins of cheap lager, rose and joints. So kind of like a massive Reclaim the Streets for some people. After no end of milling around, the march got going, but it took several hours for all the groups to start moving. The CGT seemed to have an endless supply of vans filled with soundsystems and speakers leading the union branch in the slogan, "retrait! retrait! retrait cpe!". As the march passed the prison, the demonstrators cheered the prisoners who were at their cell windows. As the Anarchist groups moved past, the sound systems started playing as loudly as possible, and everyone raised their fists. This wasnt enough for some, and a symbolic attack was launched upon the prison walls, bottles and other debris bouncing off the brickwork. No prisoners were liberated. The march moved on eventually, and a few took the chance to graffiti a bank and others put their tag APH everywhere. Background and Resources: French Universities Occupied | Three Generations March Hand In Hand. | French Youth Up In Arms Over New Employment Law The Libcom site provides a blog with up to date archiving of events in France including exclusive translations, analysis, discussion and eye-witness accounts. Paris Indymedia also carries reports. Other IMC Coverage on France: The Suburbs Are Ticking... Why The Nihilism Of The Paris Riots Is Not A Political "Insurrection | La Haine Est Dans La Rue| Paris Housing Hell | Paris Housing Hell 2 | Paris Housing Hell 3 | Discussion On earlier Riots On Indymedia.ie As the march moved up Boulevard Aragon, towards le grand place, the crowd had broken up and was streaming back, people with faces streaming trying to get back. I moved forward and the air got thick with tear gas. There was a large crowd in Le Place, and the CRS had sealed off all the roads away, and eventually moved up to seal the road behind us. They were clearly looking for some kind of conflict, but the crowd was ill prepared to meet it. The main area ofconfrontation was at one of the rues leading off from the centre of le place. The CRS were several lines deep, and the crowd occupied the centre. The cops threw lots of tear gas, and made frequent baton charges. The crowd would retreat and surge back, throwing back tear gascanisters and whatever debris they could find; occasionally pushing les flics back. The only weapons that les jeunes had were bottles, litter, broken glass from bus shelters and other rubbish that was no use against the plexiglass shields and full body armour of the CRS. After several of these returns, the cops made a series of sustained charges, driving the crowd away from the centre and then back further, constantly trying to drive lines between them. The crowd kept coming back, becoming suddenly animated to attack, but with little to no weaponry and constant tear gas,it was a losing battle. Successive charges drove us back, dislodging us from the embankments circling the place, which had been a rallying point. The shout went up "a la Sorbonne!" and it echoed around, but at this stage, there was no clear escape and too much confusion to mont any cohesive movement. Further charges drove us into a police line, where we were peppersprayed and several hundreds pushed down boulevard aragon.By the time i was able to see again, I could only follow their trail, burning barricades and overturned cars showing successive retreats. I met with some jeunes, picking up stones from the side of the road, they planned to go to the sorbonne, but had little idea how to get there, it seemed to sum up the night for les jeunes. Personally, I think that the sealing of the place was a clear provovation by the CRS, they were looking for a confrontation. From the start, the crowd were separated, the unions and more moderate protestors intimidated by the violence. The people who remained were primarily les jeunes, largely male and no match for the CRS. The people Id spoken to before hadnt expected violence, they had thought that the cops would leave the demo alone on account of the size. Few had masks, and even less had any sort of weapon, so I think its very unlikely that there was any desire for violence from les jeunes. By creating a violent situation, the French government may intend to split the anti-CPE movement, portraying les jeunes as violent hooligans. By removing large-scale public expression from the movement, the cops might hope to be able to suppress the more militant tendencies in the universities and on the streets. |
View Full Comment Text
save preference
Comments (28 of 28)