Les gilets jaunes

Maw...knowing your fondness for gilets, thought you had found a yellow one in Joules!
Yes, the Rench do riots like nobody else, don’t they?
Man the barricades.?

Having found myself on strike in the Parisian suburbs in May 1968, I find this very nostalgic.. That fine old saying "Cela saute aux yeux comme un pavé dans la gueule d'un flic" has rediscovered its relevance.

The French do riots and revolutions so well ??

They are not just in Paris. We have lots of mini protests here in rural Normandy, mostly on Saturdays. They set up beside roundabouts with a fire going and block the traffic for a bit. In our nearest city they have caused a lot of disruption to traffic and shopping centres, but the police / riot police tend to act quite quickly now
It is mostly about diesel prices, but also about taxes and general economic woes.
I feel very sorry for the shopkeepers and especially the market folk. Our elderly neighbour couldn't even get to market to sell her eggs and vegetables. Not sure how the protesters are helping her.

We got involved in a French riot in 1996 (privatisation of French telecom) very very scary. We weren't rioters
Just going to get some shopping.
And I'm someone who was very involved with the poll tax marches, but they are in a different league.

pourquoi les policiers veulent manger des pavés, ça leur casserait les dents

Are they using water cannon?

The protests seemed mostly peaceful in other areas, although inconveniencing people like your elderly neighbour, Mamie.
The Paris riots are in a different league.

Anja they got what they wanted then but still aren't happy!

They used water cannon and tear gas in our nearest city. They are mostly peaceful though there have been deaths and injuries. I think that there has been quite a lot of alcohol involved as well. It has been disruptive on some days, we can usually see where they are on Google maps from the traffic updates.
Diesel prices have always been lower than petrol here and they have shot up recently. There is no doubt it is causing a lot of hardship in rural France.
I suspect some of the Paris protesters are not from the same demographic as the ones round here.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=XicbaGHb3kY

Saw a great French film the other week - Normandy Nue - which had scenes of French farmers protesting. Good film!

A few years ago the EU tried to ban spreading manure on fields. It drains off and pollutes waterways.
The farmers in our area retaliated by dumping their manure in front of the council offices.
The EU backed down in the end.

I didn't realise they had used cannon and tear gas Mamie, in areas outside Paris.

Wouldn't it be nice to only have fuel prices to worry about? I believe fuel is cheaper in France than here in the UK anyway.

What would the French be doing if they were in our position, on the edge of Brexit (Frexit)? I'm sure there would be mass riots!
Maybe we should take a leaf out of their book....

I’ve got a couple of gilets I could wear!

I think it is the high cost of living too GrandmaKT

Higher fuel prices result in higher food prices too.

I don't have a yellow gilet, will I be allowed?

It's actually all getting out of hand. Even in our rural back water the protesters have been blockading the roads and casing traffic jams for 2 weeks now.
There is a dearth of fresh food in the supermarket and lots of minor problems,. Strangely the price of diesel has dropped from 1.63 to 1.35.

MawBroom
Higher food prices here too Jalima (and likely to get worse!)

Vive la France! ??

Mamie we are in Normandy at the moment. They were out in style outside Leclerc in Coutances, Braziers to keep themselves warm and constantly walking across the zebra crossing to cause problems.

I waved our gilet jaune and DH said 'solidarite' so we were not held up very much.

popsis71. superbe!

DH was due to be coming home via the Eurotunnel today. Last I heard he was stopped on the motorway near Calais blocked by vehicles and pedestrians demonstrating.
I don't know what good trapping tourists is going to do.

Perhaps if us Brits weren’t so apathetic we wouldn’t have schools that are short of staff, a failing NHS, not enough police to respond to lawlessness, child poverty and this messy Brexit.

We just sit and moan and look where that gets us.

Here, here Anja well said. My thoughts exactly

I don't disagree about the apathy in the UK, but I don't think harming the (struggling) local economy is a particularly helpful strategy. Small shopkeepers are already suffering here and this should be a time when they can make some money. There is still support for the protesters, but I think people are getting a bit fed up with it all. The government could certainly have made a better job of explaining why diesel needs to be discouraged and how people would be helped to move to cleaner fuels.