26/11/18:

France, Calais: about 50 people use ‘yellow vest’ picket as pretext to attack riot cops Generally speaking, people tend to reduce the ‘yellow vests’ in Calais (and elsewhere) to a movement of the extreme right. Undoubtedly, some of them are (and it reminds me of those in the Somme, who denounced migrants hiding in vans a few days ago), which has been part of Calais life for some time (with demos against migrants over the last 2 or 3 years). However, this journalist’s report mentions things such as the use of ACAB slogans (hardly something the right proclaim) and the fact that most of the people have never been on a demo in their life before. Nevertheless, many, if not most, of the yellow vests here have said they don’t want the ‘casseurs’ around.

24/11/18:

France, Paris: state claims extreme right responsible for clashes More here. “By nightfall, barricades were set on fire, luxury shop windows smashed and traffic lights uprooted.” Apparently anarchists and people from the Parisian banlieux also joined in this conflict (one banlieusard said he joined in for revenge against the brutality of cops in his area). I’ll try to write something about this ‘yellow vest’ movement over the next week or so, as I try to get my head around its contradictions and the contradictions amongst those who either support or oppose it…But for the moment, to counter the caricature that this is purely a right-wing movement – take a look at these bits of graffiti from Paris:

“The ultra-right will lose!”

“Down with the state, the cops and the fascists!”

“Macron – dismissal

Government – resign

System – abolition”

(Thanks to Crimethinc for these photos)

…Marseille: clashes again at La Plaine See 16/11 below for last report.

La Plaine, Marseille

22/11/18:

France: a molotov and lots of projectiles thrown as high schools in 4 towns join ‘yellow vest’ movement (or, at least, use it as a pretext)

20/11/18:

France, Perpignan: high school students teargassed for blockading their schools (including Rosa Luxemburg High School) in solidarity with ‘yellow vests’…Gironde: toll booth torched (video)…Minister of Interior complains that as many cops have been injured (92, 17 of them seriously) in 3 days as over 3 months at Notre-Dames-des-Landes…Côte d’Armor: “ultra-leftists” set fire to pallets, barricades and smash windows…Seine-Maritime: people in ‘yellow vests’ (denounced by others) loot 2 businesses “They stole all the alcohol from us and the freezer was emptied…. it must be said that it was not the Yellow Vests that did that. On the contrary, they secured the restaurant and escorted us to our cars when we left….The computer shop Nicolas et Fils, also close to the roundabout, was also robbed, suffering significant damage.” No link for this, but several toll gates on motorways have been opened up so motorists can drive for free.

However, this ‘gilet-jaunes’ video is horrendously nationalist and overtly political, calling for a referendum, a change to the constitution (something sections of the ruling class would love to be able to do), and negotiations (which up until now have not been part of this movement). Many classic leftist themes, though it adds explicit nationalism, are there – such as the ideology of unity, the ideology of blocking the economy…Above all it insists that people “speak with one voice”. But whether this represents a significant attempt to make this movement explicitly populist and hierarchically controlled, and rein in the best aspects of it – the excesses of those who use it as a pretext for their own anger – remains to be seen. In its favour, the constant noise of a siren in the background, and the fact that the whole thing is spoken in a voice with an echo in the form of a scary announcement on a station tannoy warning of imminent disaster, is not conducive to watching this crap: the idea of everyone speaking with this one voice, transforming France into a nation of robots, certainly terrifies me. Even if it’s an expression of a small minority wanting to represent a movement that so far has no clear representation, it’s a miserable development – and small minorities often succeed in drowning out the majority, particularly a majority that doesn’t explicitly express much more than opposition to an increase in the cost of survival.

19/11/18:

France, La Réunion (French department in Indian Ocean): 70 cars torched at dealership, shopping mall wrecked, etc. during ‘yellow vest’ movement, as refineries are blocked on the mainland and tollgates are made free More here “In Saint-Denis, the Score supermarket in the Vauban district was vandalized. They then went to Vauban’s pharmacy. At the Cauldron, a fast-food restaurant was invaded by about thirty masked people. A major fire was ignited on the roundabout of this fast food place….Young people then gathered near the Simply Market store in La Providence. A crowd formed, garbage cans were burned to prevent traffic circulating. Then, the young people attacked the iron shutters of the Simply Market before entering inside and emptying the liquor section of the store….In Saint-André, there was a report of a fire being started at the annex of the town hall of Cambuston. In Saint-Gilles-les-Bains, two fires were set in Montroquefeuil and another in town towards the Score. In Saint-Paul, an SFR building and an Orange store were targeted. At the Port, the MacDonalds was burned and vandalized….and looted. Cars were also burned, especially in Saint-Denis….In the Vauban district in Saint-Denis, but also in Mufia, clashes took place between young people and the police from the start of the evening….The road was cut off by protesters at the intersection “Chemin Neuf”. The police intervened with tear gas to dislodge them. The helicopter of the gendarmerie was mobilized for a good part of the evening to fly over Saint-Denis.” In all, 8 towns (Saline les Bains, La Providence, La Possession, Saint-Benoit, Saint-Denis, Saint-Paul, Le Port and Saint-André) experienced riots on the island. Some obvious bad aspects of this have been gangs playing the state by forcing car owners to pay a “toll” to travel along certain roads. A curfew has been imposed on 14 towns.

A wrecked MacDonalds, La Réunion, Saint-Denis

17/11/18:

France: about 300,000 block roads, do “operation snailspaces” (deliberate slowing of traffic), etc. throughout the country, in social-network-organised movement against high fuel prices (called the “yellow vests”) A demonstrator is killed by an angry driver, and 409 throughout the country are injured (14 of them gravely injured), mainly by fucked up individualist drivers (many of whom the cops avoid arresting). And over 200 arrests. Though aspects of this have something rather nationalist about it (some demonstrators sung the Marseillaise and there are often affirmations of France, or regional flags) it also has something vaguely libertarian about it as well – e.g. they refused the support of Marine Le Pen and Melanchon; e.g. some toll boths were liberated so drivers could drive for free; e.g. various ideologues have lamented the lack of leaders with whom the state could negotiate, and the rejection of trade union involvement in the movement, which would give some semblance of acceptable organisation. And so far no person has come forward to represent the movement in the media (though obviously there are a lot of individuals who speak to journalists on the roadside). In Paris the Champs Elysée was blocked and many demonstrators went to the Elysée only to be blocked by the cops (surprise surprise). Barriers were thrown at them in the Champs Elysée and they responded with teargas. In Troyes about 200 people broke through the barriers of the prefecture and briefly occupied the courtyard, where the gate was vandalised, and the hall, where a window was broken and a cop was badly injured, and 3 cop cars damaged. There were heavy clashes at Quimper (Finistere)….Funny mix of videos, including footage of middle-of-the-road line-dancing/ hokey-kokey, here. Some shopping precincts were blockaded and throughout the country lots of shops sold very little, many closing at midday. According to this, “shopping malls saw revenues fall by an estimated 35 per cent” (though this says 40% down for 17/11 and 20% down for the whole weekend). It looks like this will continue beyond this one day, including many who have prepared to stay the night. In Lorraine, toll gates were wrecked and intervening cops were beaten, and molotovs were thrown at them

In La Réunion (French department in the Indian Ocean) there were several interesting events: “Scuffles occurred all night in several cities of Reunion after the demonstrations of the day. Several roundabouts were set on fire in Saint-Denis, clashes also took place between police and young people in Saint-Pierre. Garbage cans and other objects are on fire all along the South Boulevard in Saint-Denis and part of the Cauldron. The damage is also visible in Camellias with a service station partly ransacked. Traffic is also difficult in the area of Vauban where the police were still firing tear gas around 11 pm. Boulevard Sud to the East exit of Saint-Denis is dotted with garbage cans and cars on fire. A tree from the Moufia roundabout is even prey to the flames. Scuffles also occurred in Saint-Pierre in the area of Ravine des Cabris.” More here “…in the early evening, more than 200 individuals gathered near the CGSS roundabout on the South boulevard between the Camellias and Vauban playing cat and mouse with the police, including the BAC… supported… by the helicopter which circled around for a good part of the night. These riots continued until late at night, with tear gas bombs thrown on one side and stones and bottles thrown on the other.…When the situation seemed to calm down in one place, it degenerated in another. In a large number of municipalities, the roundabouts and strategic crossroads were taken over by young people who lit several fires on the road. This was the case in Saint-Denis (Moufia roundabout, Chaudron, Candin roundabout, etc.), but also in Saint-Benoît (Plaines roundabout), at Rivière-des-Galets (roundabout – Sacred Heart point), in Salazie … In Mufia, apart from the many garbage fires, thugs have repeatedly tried to get into the Express Score [supermarket], put to flight by the police. But they finally realised their goal late in the evening….Saint-Denis for its part, was able to find a relative calm after 1am, with the lifting of several blockades of roundabouts…still all littered with debris and burnt objects. Vehicles were burned here and there…In the middle of the night, a vehicle was still burning in the middle of the road on the South boulevard, near the Region….at La Rivière: from the end of the day until midnight, garbage cans burned and dozens of young people occupied the roundabout High School. In the district of La Palissade, it was later that the situation began to stir, with the presence of hooded youths lighting fires near the Leclerc roundabout. In Sainte-Anne, young people opposed the gendarmes. The police, like the firefighters, were overwhelmed all night in several municipalities. A blockade persisted in Bourg Murat …and traffic jams lasted most of the night. At Saint-Paul, it was also up until late that the police had to deal with young vandals. From the waterfront to downtown, young people were present in the streets, sometimes hooded, not hesitating to throw stones. At La Possession, a school …windows were broken shortly after midnight….other blockades, already held by day by the “yellow vests”, continued to be occupied calmly all night or at least a good part of it. Protesters remained at the airport roundabout in Gillot, for example, or at the Azaleas roundabout in Tampon.“

La Réunion: the ad says, “The same passion for a job well done”

Undoubtedly there are aspects of this that are inter-classist, but it’s uselessly unilluminating and lacking in nuance, to drag out the old ‘petit-bourgeois’ knee-jerk insult particularly in an epoch where increasing amounts of proletarians are forced into petit-bourgeois means of survival just as many petit-bourgeoises are increasingly proletarianised. See, for example, this about the UK fuel blockades of 2000. This is not to minimise crudely populist aspects of this movement, but to reduce it all to the “petit-bourgeois” put-down doesn’t clarify anything.

It should be pointed out that the figure of 300,000 is the highest official (media) estimate – those who blocked the roads have not issued any estimate whatsoever, as they have no way of knowing, since there is no central organisation. The Ministry of the Interior put it at between 244,000 and 282,000 (depending on the time of the day they gave out the information) but then they invariably underestimate.

16/11/18: France, Marseille (from an email):

Fifth week of construction work on La Plaine

Friday, November 9, very early, thirty people block access to the site. Some scuffles with the workers. They end up asserting their right to withdraw. The site comes to a stop. The locks of the two gates, as well as a construction machine, are sabotaged. In the evening, sope fencing hindering the passage outside the wall are transferred into the middle of the site.

Saturday and Sunday, all quiet.

Monday morning, once again with fifty people. The workers leave but end up coming back when the cops return.

Tuesday morning about fifteen people unsuccessfully attempt to block the site.

Wednesday morning another attempt to block the site is made. A security guard, locked inside the enclosure by the unofficial use of padlocks, gases some opponents. The cops clear the people and allow the workers to return. One of the gates is unhinged when they leave. That’s when the cops come back to clear out and gas people.
Also note this day the beginning of repairs to cameras sabotaged a few weeks ago.

In the evening, a demonstration was called following what is happening around the district of Noailles (but also in other neighborhoods). That is to say, currently five buildings have reduced to rubble, eight bodies were found in the rubble of the first three alone, and others could be found; all the adjoining block has been evacuated, other buildings have been evacuated also in this area, as well as in other neighborhoods – with about 850 people fucked around in hotels, gyms or who knows where; some of these buildings should be destroyed; a balcony fell next to the rue d’Aubagne during the demo / mourning on Saturday, a stairwell also next to the rue d’Aubagne fell during the demonstration on Wednesday (the whole district dates from the end 18th century and is therefore in the same state); two elected representatives of the regional council, owners of two apartments in the collapsed buildings, have, for the moment, been removed from their administrative functions … In short, a joyful atmosphere.

A procession descended from La Plaine with its own banner (“12 million to destroy La Plaine, not a euro to save Noailles”). It joined the demonstration at Noailles. About 10,000 people headed for the Town Hall. Once it arrived hundreds of people put pressure on the cops. Slogans, big firecrackers, paint, some projectiles and two or three barriers spurted towards them. A Christmas tree was burnt. Some blows, some teargas, and once again, some arrests.

A procession returned to La Plaine at the end of the demonstration, followed by cops. Arriving in the square, one of the gates of the site is unhinged, security guards keep an eye out and gas people; they are hit by stones. The cops very quickly start gassing and chasing people.
Small isolated groups are found on La Plaine, many people drunk (we are in a square full of chavs). Some slogans, some failed “actions” and clashes with the BAC and the national cops who find themselves stuck in the enclosure. Some blows, some gassing and more arrests.

In all these latest attempts, there is often an idea hoping for the workers themselves to leave. Indeed, the meager balance of power established before the installation of the wall defeated it, and the neighborhood still not responding consistently, it is clear that this is a last assault led by very few people who will be hit by more and more repression. Unless the events of Noailles have repercussions on the site…
The square has been so wrecked by the building site that from now on the building work will prevail.

14/11/18:

France, Marseille: fireworks, beer cans, barriers and smoke bombs v. teargas and truncheons during demo against mayor after 8 people died on November 5th due to shoddy buildings collapsing

12/11/18:

France, Paris: diplomatic corps car and Porsche torched by anarchists in centre of town

10/11/18:

France, Etampes: cops pelted with bricks & fireworks by about 20 youths during patrol

8/11/18:

France, Marseille (sent by email):

5/11/18:

France, Paris: paramedics block ringroad in protest against reform making medical transportation expenses having to be paid for by medical facilities rather than state

4/11/18:

France, Saône-et-Loire: curfew for minors imposed on town after several burnings of cars “On Saturday November 3 in the morning, a car dealer overwrought by the fire of 13 vehicles in his garage, which had occurred in the night, deposited one of the burnt-out carcasses in front of the town hall of Montceau …Confronted with repeated car fires, the mayor of Montceau-les-Mines, Saône-et-Loire, decided Sunday, November 4 to establish a curfew for minors…During the night of Saturday to Sunday, several other vehicles were burned voluntarily in a neighborhood of the city.“

3/11/18:

France, Drome: intolerable but far too comprehensible gratuitous reaction to 3 people getting themselves a good education “After the damage and the fire of a computer room during the night of Friday to Saturday at the Lycées des Catalins in Montélimar, reactions have been unanimous [sic] in strongly condemning these acts. Around 3:30 am, three individuals …managed to break into the compound of the establishment. On site, they smashed several windows and burned a room dedicated to the INS (Digital Information System). The firefighters were able to quickly control the fire before it spread to other rooms, but the damage will not allow the facility to reopen Monday. …Regional councilor Mounir Aarab, also a member of the school’s board of directors, came to see the damage on Saturday afternoon, firmly condemning it: “It is intolerable and incomprehensible. It’s gratuitous vandalism. I hope the police will quickly identify the perpetrators and justice [sic] will be done.“

1/11/18:

France, Marseille (from an email): third week of resistance to construction on The Plain aimed at intensified gentrication (see reports for 25/10 & 18/10) –

After the relative calm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (arrests still occurred, but also sabotage and unauthorized “flashmob” construction), hostilities resumed on Monday afternoon with the establishment of concrete blocks weighing several tons connected between them (and with counterweights made of the first concrete blocks installed over the previous weeks) and forming a wall 2m50 [about 8 foot] high. The goal is to surround the square before the holiday arrives, with workers working with the support of CRS riot cops in the rain until 19:30.

Still arrests of opponents who participate every day, and since early morning, the slowdown of work; but good news: the person held in prison before trial has just left.

Small acts of sabotage are perpetrated in the night after the departure of the CRS.

Tuesday, the massive surrounding of the square continues. In the evening, sabotage by a few dozen people again.

On Wednesday, the enclosure of the square is finished. More arrests. At the end of the construction, a small fight breaks out with workers, teargas being used. In the evening an attempt to open up the wall is made without much success and with the cops (and security guards again) who roam around not far away.

In the night, several graffiti artists return to graffiti a good part of the outer enclosure.

Today, Thursday, November 1, a demo, smaller than the previous one, came to The Plain while graffiti artists continue the work of the previous day in broad daylight and in front of the cops.

This demonstration aims to symbolically bury the negotiations with the town hall….this will to negotiate their own gentrification with the state and capital. Finally, except for the people who live in this neighborhood, or spend their time in it, those who have not been sufficiently coordinated by the competent authorities (in the words of a lot of people), we really wonder why people who are challenging the SOLEAM project are particularly bothered by it – SOLEAM which, finally, wants to bring them the alternative gentrification that they want (and which has also already been in progress for years).

Unlike other parts of this very working class city, which have a massive conflictual relationship vis-a-vis the state and wage labor, this inability in the district to have a class position against the employers and an anti-authoritarian one against the state comes from the very high amount of “leftists” in the area (it obviously needs an electorate to give Melenchon a mandate). These people being public service employees, associated with co-management of social misery in the city, or in the small alternative scene, and the large one too; therefore, most of the time, in that class composition which is somehow with the state.

Even some of those with an autonomous perspective in the district (where almost all of those in the city are concentrated) don’t escape this attitude. Indeed, in recent years, we have seen, almost everywhere in France, a fringe of Autonomy take up a leftist stance (to the point of sometimes becoming part of this left, like those ‘autonomes’ of Marseille [including some of those living , or passing through The Plain] who participated in, or contributed to the creation of, the union Sud), thus being stuffed with some of the themes and practices of the Left.

In my opinion it feels like the end of this struggle (since the only perspective seems to be dancing around at the end of the demonstration instead of direct action) but also the end of any clash between the various social strata of the neighborhood once the construction site has been well established and the cops have definitely left…

To be continued over the next few days.

– CSH, an autonomous chav who wants to continue having a drink in the midst of living corpses and the corpses of bottles of The Plain pending the advent of a social revolution (which may not come) that will abolish the state and capital.

…Tarn: 2 imprisoned minors totally ransack prison kitchen and TV room

31/10/18:

France: Haloween anti-cop riots in various parts of country (Paris suburbs, Lyon, Etampes, Metz, Rennes….) as 15,000 cops are deployed nationally More here…including looting in Paris suburb “While they intervened to avoid the ransacking of a grocery store of the city by twenty masked young people who tried to steal objects and fireworks in the early evening, two bottles of acid were thrown at them while they pursued one of the “casseurs”. According to our information, one of the policemen was lightly burned on his hand. A 13-year-old girl was arrested for throwing one of the bottles. …Another excess not far from Etampes where an Intersport store was looted by twenty hooded people. All the displays were ransacked and emptied. Security officers present at the scene who attempted to intervene were beaten. Some suspects were arrested after the arrival of the police but most thieves had already fled. Finally in Saint-Michel-sur-Orge, forty individuals armed with iron bars and axes have trashed the city.”

27/10/18:

France, Seine-St.Denis: 2 CCTV cameras torched on housing estate

25/10/18:

France, Marseille: Another report sent by email about the continued gentrification of part of the city called “la Plaine”. See entries for 18/10, 13/10 & 11/10 below.

Last Thursday the workers tested out new fencing to put on top of the concrete blocks. The system was not fully functioning, so they lifted it by themselves. They also welded in park gates, but it’s not bad after all (the park had looked like a prison). In the evening a block of concrete which had particularly disturbed the passage of people in the park was moved by a group of people and palisades still lying on the gro“Due to the ongoing illegal strike in the company, according to estimates, the company suffered losses of great value, I estimate the loss to be at least several million zlotys,” und were attacked. Friday the two newsstands, closed for years, were removed. One of them had been reopened a few months after a carnival; it served as an information point, infokiosk and meeting point for various meetings and assemblies. On Saturday, the demo brought together 1,500 to 2,000 people. It ended at La Plaine without any skirmishes. A structure coming from the ZAD (and yes, it was necessary that this fashionable ideology was invited) is brought back and mounted on the spot in the afternoon by a few hundred people. In the evening, while several hundred people remained in the square, concrete blocks were attacked… while four surveillance cameras out of six were taken out of service and the cops who were there on the spot received huge firecrackers in their face. Two people were arrested (while another is being held in preventive detention at Baumettes Prison for a few days pending his trial in November). Sunday improvised freelance structures (gardens, sports field, toilet …) were built in the square to intrude on the construction machines. Monday morning workers tried to work. Not being equipped with helmets, and with a lot of opponents remaining on the spot, they had to go home without being able to work. In the evening, more concrete blocks were removed…Very early in the morning, the CRS arrive at 3:45 am and allow workers to break all the improvised structures, including that of the ZAD. In the middle of the morning, calm returns. In the evening there were unlicensed concerts and one of the four snack bars inside the square (two of which had been abandoned for years) was reopened. This will make up for the loss of the squatted newspaper kiosk….Today, Thursday, October 25, it still looks calm (apart from receiving the fascist supporters of Lazio) and we learn that in fact the president of the SOLEAM, which takes care of the building site for the city, was waiting for an answer from the Plaine Assembly about a joint meeting. The answer of the latter didn’t have to wait. It’s a yes ! certainly under certain conditions, but still yes.

Moral: we create a mess in La Plaine and the assembly, given the balance of forces, are then able to negotiate its alternative gentrification of the neighborhood.

21/10/18:

France, Val-de-Marne: facial recognition surveillance mast cut down Admittedly, this may well have been to protect street-level drug dealing, but considering how, at this level of the drug hierarchy, these people are completely proletarianised, this is simply a way of defending their illegal wage labour from the state. However, if this involved crack dealing (which is by no means certain), it’s hardly something that’s worth parading as independent opposition…Gard: bullfight-lovers teargassed accidentally by cops confronting anti-bullfight protesters “About 200 anti-bullfighting activists against 200 mobile policemen in Rodilhan. Seven years after the October 2011 incidents in which anti-corrida campaigners had been hit by aficionados [bullfight lovers] after chaining themselves at the village’s arena, tensions were still very high this year. Protesters ripped open fences and threw projectiles at mobile policemen protected by riot barriers. During a police charge, a protester fell on her head and injured her neck. She was taken out by the gendarmes on a stretcher.
Tear gas was used many times throughout the day to keep protesters shaking the fence to try to get through.
But the wind carried the gas into the arena. Inside, the aficionados protected their faces with scarves and handkerchiefs. “We wonder how it’s possible, that there really had to be such a large amount of gas, it’s something weird that we aficionados, we do not understand,” said a spectator on leaving the arena.
To return home and leave the village, the aficionados had to be escorted by law enforcement because the anti-bullfighting protesters were waiting for them at the exits.“

20/10/18:

France, Territoire de Belfort: low rent housing agency destroyed in carefully-realised arson attack More here “Earlier, around 20:30, two cars were burned in rue des Commandos-d’Afrique in the same district of Arsot.“

19/10/18:

France, Isere : annex of town hall torched

18/10/18:

France, Marseille: report sent by email on the current movement against the intensification of gentrification in “La Plaine”, a popular part of the city, where at night for years the more marginalised have gathered to drink, smoke, chat, play music and piss around etc., but which is also full of market stalls during the day; much of the area around it is partly gentrified with “alternative” shops and bars, etc. See 13/10 & 11/10 below.

News from Marseille and La Plaine

Last Thursday, after the last market of La Plaine which had taken place for loads of years, work began in this district of downtown Marseille.

This is the neighborhood in which I live and it will undergo a restructuring aimed at gentrification.
Resistance has appeared. Some of the market showbiz has quit after being paid off with crumbs, and the reconstruction work has been met by an autonomous opposition.

History

Thursday the 11th, concrete blocks were installed around the huge main square of the neighborhood under police escort (CRS, BAC …) and some security guards (which are now permanently on site). A lot of teargassing and arrests of some of the numerous opponents who’d come there, including a person who has gone to Baumettes Prison pending his immediate appearance on Monday, and there are some trials to come.
In the evening the blocks were taken away by opponents of the project.

the same kind of blocks somehow removed by opponents of the intensified gentrification project

The next day, the blocks are re-positioned and others are added. More arrests and gassing.

On Saturday, a cheerful demonstration walks round the city center; the local SOLEAM on the Canebière, which manages the building site for the city, has its window broken. The demonstration again tries to put the brakes on the construction machinery. Some clashes with the cops ​​at the end of the demonstration on La Plaine and more arrests. In the evening the construction machine is sabotaged.
On Sunday, small structures are again rebuilt …

On Monday fencing is fixed above the concrete blocks with a new machine, despite the presence of opponents. In the evening, a good part of them is smashed up.
On Tuesday, a large amount of trees are cut up while some of the rest of the palisades are attacked and people climb trees but are dislodged by the cops. Some serious injuries and arrests. In the evening, after the departure of the cops, a few hundred people attack the construction machine and the workers’ shack, smash the fencing that had been put back in place once again, and set up a magnificent bonfire twenty meters high with about fifty wooden sections of fencing.
On Wednesday, the cut trees are mashed up in the morning and the company removes its machines, its workers, its prefab shacks, its fences and go off with the CRS without finishing the work.
Today, Thursday, workers arrived this morning with mobile gendarmes ready to fire things other than simple teargas grenades; the site will probably resume after this mini “truce” of half a day.

Saturday, a new demonstration is planned.

Assemblies are now almost every day. Personally, I do not go to them in view of its positions developed in recent years and in recent times even more so (before the work started, this assembly met every first Monday of the month).

– among others, those in favor of the small business district, including the hundreds of fairgrounds which gravitated around the four weekly markets.

– but also its position aiming at alternative gentrification (a clean and green neighborhood, more public services …).

This political confusion is only a reflection of a part of this neighborhood whose MP is Mélenchon [SF note: lefty recuperative demagogic politician, head of Unsubmissive France, the 3rd largest political party, who just this week said, echoing Louis XIV, “The Republic is me” whilst on his way to a trial over financial irregularities; looks like his career is pretty much on the decline as he just recently took the piss out of a journalist’s southern French accent in a very arrogant manner, forgetting somehow that most of the people who’d voted for him have that very same accent]. But also the reflection of a more general reformist atmosphere everywhere, including outside Marseille…

16/10/18:

France, Nantes: prison construction company car torched

13/10/18:

France, Marseille: further clashes over intensified gentrification of popular meeting place “Security forces were there to surround machinery intended to put the concrete blocks in their original place. In the night, opponents had managed to move the blocks laid there to …prepare for the roadworks.” These were massive very heavy concrete blocks – moved somehow by tying them to ropes.

12/10/18:

France, Besançon: various vehicles torched “But the specificity of these nocturnal fires is that they are first and foremost of company vehicles that are harmful to our lives, the cogs that are essential to make this shitty world function, that went up in smoke: a vehicle from Engie in rue Pierre Leroy, two of Enedis (a utility vehicle and a truck) in Avenue Commander Marceau and a car from ‘l’Est Républicain ‘ in the rue de Tunnel. Engie is a well-known collaborator in the prison system. The energy company has been investing in several prisons and detention centers for many years. It is a target of choice for anyone who wants to fight the imprisonment of individuals, with or without documents….Regarding Enedis, it is the showcase of the project for burying nuclear waste in Bure…It is responsible for policing people through the installation of Linky meters….As for ‘L’Est Républicain’, it is a crucial tool for maintaining social order … distorting or concealing facts, always with the aim of serving the cops and various projects of power.”

11/10/18:

France, Marseille: clashes as local state aims to suppress meeting place for the marginalised by extending gentrification of already semi-gentrified area

10/10/18:

France, New Caledonia (department of France in the South Pacific): arson attack on nickel mine conveyor belt destroys 200 metres of belt “This new incendiary attack, which is the eleventh this year, comes as the mining company SLN no longer takes out any ore because of the multiple acts of sabotage and the protest movement raised by young local inhabitants (which in addition to sabotage, resulted in multiple blocking actions). Since mid-August, SLN has closed its mining center. Recall that from August 6, access to the mines Méa and Kiel were blocked in a protest about the exploitation of new deposits….Moreover, here is what ‘The New Caledonia’ says: “Since the closure of the center [mid-August], the conveyor belt has been burned three times. At this stage, the SLN redeployed the majority of its employees formerly assigned to Kouaoua to other centers. The others were put on leave, waiting for possible partial unemployment. This closure also affects the many subcontractors, but also the shops and services of the municipality. The conflict seriously undermines the production of the SLN. Without Kouaoua, the plant loses a fifth of its ore supply, which is a mineral with a particular content. For the time being, the shutdown of one of Doniambo’s ovens is not relevant, says the company. But the manufacturer says it is worried about the survival of the business. In the longer term, the repercussions could even weigh on the future gas power plant, whose design has been designed to meet the energy needs of the plant. ” We also remember that the chiefs of the Kanak community had made agreements with the mining company, which absolutely did not calm the young people of the region (quite the contrary!), who are seeing their forest disappear and their environment poisoned. for the profits of the state. No negotiation with capital and all authority, wherever it comes from! The best way to struggle against an ecocidal and deathly project is attack”

9/10/18:

France, Paris: clashes as unions demonstrate against Macron’s neoliberal reforms For some of the contradictions of this movement see this (from a year ago),and this and this from earlier this year.

29/9/18:

France, Mulhouse: youths ambush cops with iron bars & stones, burn pallets etc., in over 6 hours of clashes; no arrests despite helicopter with floodlights and camera

28/9/18:

France, Pas-de-Calais:a dozen cars burn, along with pallets and tyres, after gendarmes shoot dead traveler who was part of gang; travelers demand release of brother of victim to attend victim’s funeral

25/9/18:

France, Lyon: cop intervention in filming of rap song clip leads them to being stoned by about 100 youths

24/9/18:

France, Strasbourg: clashes as locals resist forest destruction to build ring road

23/9/18:

France: report in mainstream paper saying that on May 1st water cannons in Paris were designed to create a disgusting stench – they were filled with macerated rotten meat proteins, a mixture of blood and crushed bone Apparently the IDF also use this kind of stuff against Palestinians.

22/9/18:

France, Maine-et-Loire: bank windows smashed, bank torched, cop cars stoned, lots of tags, etc. on anti-fascist demo-cum-festival “It seems that Angers’ tumult continued until late into the night since the local fash were the target of a fire. Two people were unfortunately arrested. During the demonstration, the cops had blocked the road of the procession trying to get to the Alvarium. Remember that in mid-July, this same fascist hideout had already been burned.“…Haute-Alpes: about 150 pro-migrant demonstrators on Italian border attack teargas-and-sound grenade-throwing cops with acid phials & slingshots; no arrests

Above: “Why do they divide us with borders if we are all human?”

South American graffiti

Below: “He who steals from us is from here and rich, not an immigrant and poor”

18/9/18:

France, Lyon: screw out of uniform cut several times with pointed object outside his home by man saying he was “not so clever without his uniform”

17/9/18:

France, Calais: migrants stone riot cops, set up barricades of boxes and branches on ring road, after arrest of migrant for we-don’t-know-what

15/9/18:

France, Grenoble: mobile Chamber-of-Commerce “shop” trying to propagandise the profitable wonders of the latest technology burnt down by molotov cocktails on day after its inauguration

14/9/18:

France, Val-de-Marne: 3 cop cars parked behind police station completely burnt out in incendiary attack Probably in revenge for previous day’s arrests.

Val-de-Marne – the only good cop car is a dead cop car

13/9/18:

France, Val-de-Marne: a dozen youths stone cops in ambush

7/9/18:

France, Metz: 3 undocumented migrants escape detention centre, 2 re-captured, 3rd still free despite massive state resources put into trying to find him

4/9/18:

France, Yvelines: 30 youths jump on cops during control “One of the officers took a punch to the jaw. A hooligan grabs the tear gas canister of another policeman, breaking the object in two. Reinforcements arrived quickly and three suspects, aged 16 to 20, were arrested. The first victim had his jaw dislocated. The eyes of the second were hit by tear gas.”

3/9/18

France, Val d’Oise: “union house” combining CGT, FSU, Snuipp, CFDT, CFTC completely smashed up and looted; tags saying “thanks for your money” & “Fuck work!”

23/8/18:

France, Cherbourg: National Front announces definitive closure of offices in September following over 3 years of attacks, vandalism and sabotage on them

15/8/18:

France, Cannes: communique-cum-warning released in August, published here, re. sinking of boat in March

A communiqué from some anarchist sailors rescued from Kronstadt:
“March 2018, in the vicinity of Cannes, we sank, by making holes in the hull, the sailing boat of an engineer affiliated to the Bonatti SPA, a gas pipeline manager, amongst others, for TAP in Italy. Against their energy that nourishes this inhuman world, action! Mr. Simon, if you do not give up your position, you will lose tyour house in addition to the boat. You must agree with us that this is not to your advantage.”

9/8/18:

France, Toulouse: 2 incidents of a dozen or so youths attacking the cops This is in the same area as several nights of riots (following death of local man in prison) back in April this year.

2/8/18:

France, Oise: screw hospitalised by prisoner resisting cell search

1/8/18:

France, Val-deMarne: 3rd time in 3 months that prison guard’s cars are torched…Bretagne: bank torched

30/7/18:

France, Nice: 2nd night of riots “A good part of the night, the police force had to face traps set by rioters and suffered stoning. Two small barricades were put in place by individuals, using garbage cans and mattresses.“…Calais: cop hospitalised as migrants stone riot filth

29/7/18:

France, Nice: cops stoned after “accident” following high-speed chase with scooter Cops in France are now responsible for the deaths of 11 people this year so far, as compared with 11 last year in total (sometimes this involved cop cars deliberately banging into the back wheels of stolen motorbikes in high-speed chases, that results in the bike crashing and death).

28/7/18:

France, Var: 20 cops attacked by 60

25/7/18:

France, Nevers: chief-of-police’s car torched

24/7/18:

France, Carcassonne: La Tear de France Cops teargas demo of small farmers blocking cyclists with bales of hay & sheep, teargassing the Tour de France cyclists at the same time.

Cops remonstrating with those who don’t want to be fleeced (note Peasant Confederation bureaucrat in the foreground on the right)

18/7/18:

France,Gard: state bureaucratic office for phoney ‘solidarity’ wrecked “The CCAS, which is an organism of the town hall, boasts of “assisting the poor”. In reality, its job is above all to police the poor, to break the solidarities that are formed, to work for social pacification in a world of exploitation and misery.“

15/7/18:

France, Menton (Alpes-Maritimes): youths stone cops just minutes after more French millionaires put bags of wind in nets than Croatian millionaires…More here “…youths looted a store and clashed with police. …Dozens of youths shattered windows at a popular store on the Champs Elysees” …Bouche-de-Rhone: about 80 masked youths attack cops with projectiles….TV transmitter for the small town of St Jean du Gard torched just hours before the match… This claims 12 towns had clashes with the state. See this for a critique of the spectacle of football and of the 2014 World Cup in particular.

A translation of this:

Some thoughts for the 15th of July [written before the match]:

Following the victory of the French team in the semi-finals of the World Cup, a certain fervor took over the streets in the different cities of “French territory”. From the final whistle, hundreds or even thousands of people gathered in the squares of the city centers. You could hear screaming, singing, laughing, seeing strangers kissing and dancing, people jumping on cars, smelling smoke. Something unusual was floating in the air. A fever that had a taste of what could look like a moment of revolutionary effervescence, of breaking with normality.

But in this world of bosses, cops and politicians, football (just like alcohol, drugs, religion, games, etc.) serves social pacification. Because it takes us out of the gloom of everyday life and misery (material and emotional) for a moment (without any change in our lives), football helps us accept shit daily. Just as rap, football (or more broadly music, art and sport) offers individual opportunities to get out of wage slavery. But how many footballers and millionaire rappers to how many precarious, unemployed, galley slaves or prisoners are there? Capitalism sells dreams of better days. It teaches us wisely to wait for a hypothetical day of glory. But all this hope is only illusion. We are – once France qualified in the finals of the World Cup – still nothing other than the role that has been assigned to us by the capital.

And if politicians of all stripes hailed the victory of the French team, it is not a coincidence. Because behind the political quarrels and the appearances of ideological pluralities, from Mélenchon to Le Pen, they support capital and the nation. Whether capital is run by liberals or Keynesians is not the issue. That the nation be the banner of freedom or equality isn’t either. Because the problem is precisely the existence of nations, of capitalists and all that they understand of exploitation, being ground down, borders, wars and deaths. And while we are singing, like 20 years ago, the tremendous existence of “France’s black white arab team” seen as a symbol of the republican model of integration into the national community, we were soon faced with real social conflicts. This self-same French team whose players were called “immature leaders” by the Minister of Sports Roselyne Bachelot in 2010. Because when the “blues” [name for French national team] are bad, the media and politicians immediately reduce them to their original condition: that of proletarians coming from immigration, of “scum”.

And while French flags are being waved around the streets, it seems important to remember that the nation is nothing more than an idea (a shit idea), a myth designed to create a a common sense of belonging to justify the existence of the State, an authority whose interests will always be contrary to those of individuals. And while some middle-class people rave about FRRAAANCCEEE’s victory alongside the poor, perhaps we should ask ourselves how it is possible to accept such hypocrisy. Because it is the same people who support the killings by the state through its police who turn Umtiti into a national hero. But how could it be otherwise? The police have never had any other function than to maintain the current social order, that is to say to protect private property (the base on which rests capitalism and thus the wealth of these same bourgeois nationalists) and state institutions.

In a world that leaves the only alternative to work as prison, the spectacle of football helps to be dazzled by dreams of money, luxury cars, women-as-objects. As world champion or not, the French team will always be composed of millionaires after you go back to work for a boss or to exploit yourself (start up, Nation Oblige).

So if there is anything to be done with this eventual victory (or otherwise, defeat) of the French team in the World Cup, it is to take advantage of our massive presence in the streets to share and spread a little of the joy and rage we have through the destruction of everything that daily oppresses us. Because for joy to continue, for possibilities to open, for the feast to continue, the institutions and the men who make our lives a deathly plague must be attacked and burned to ashes. Instead of brandishing French flags, let’s burn them with pride – not to replace them with others – but so that we never have to conform to identities, to be locked in cages and categories of power. Never again to follow any banner extolling the merits of the nation or of whatever bit of bullshit.

To live free here and now.
Death to the state, death to patriarchy.
That the prisons burn, that the bosses die.
Fuck France and all nations.

14/7/18:

France, Essonne: looting &/or attacks on cops in 5 areas of department on Bastille Day ““They broke through the entrance, entered the store and set fire to fireworks,” says an employee. For now, the damage is not yet known, but they stole about ten bottles of alcohol, sweets and ice cream.“…A few kilometers away, Crosne’s city center also experienced an eventful night. “We found this situation in several municipalities of the department, said Jean-Francois Papineau, departmental director of public security of Essonne. Small groups attacked the police with pebbles, fireworks and sometimes even cobblestones. No policeman was injured”…134 vehicles torched, 5 cops injured in whole of Paris area…Besancon: motolovs v. riot cops

11/7/18:

France, Cannes: youths from working class part of town attack cops with stones, bottles etc. in filthy rich area after World Cup semi-final win…Frejus (Var): cops use flashballs and teargas as restaurants & shops are smashed

10/7/18:

France, Nantes: 13 cars torched; no arrests on 7th night of riots

9/7/18:

France, Creuse: cops teargas 150 protesters having put up roadblocks in front of gendarmerie to try to prevent expulsion of young Sudanese from country “Nordeen E. fled his country at war, and through chance and fate, he found refuge in Faux-La-Montagne, commonly known for its spirit of mutual aid and hospitality. The young man has been there for eight months, but his papers are not in order. France is asking him to return to Italy, the country through which he arrived in Europe to investigate his asylum application. The young Sudanese never hid, and he himself went to the Felletin Gendarmerie following a summons. The inhabitants are disgusted. The gendarmes faced their anger and their disgust: “I was playing football with him, and sending him back to Italy is directing him to Sudan, and you are condemning him to the slaughterhouse,” said a young man. “It’s not a question of legality but of humanity”

8/7/18:

France, Essonne: 20 youths throw cobblestones & heavy-duty fireworks at police station and cop car; no arrests

7/7/18:

France, Nantes: only 18 cars & construction site machine burnt on 5th night of riots …CCTV camera brought down, smashed & burned (below)

6/7/18:

France, Nantes: prefect bans buying & selling of fuel and fireworks for 6 days on 4th night of riots as cop is charged with manslaughter…nearly 50 cars torched

Nantes: rioters create fuel shortage, 5th July…state creates fuel shortage 6th July

5/7/18:

France, Nantes: 3rd night of rioting…partial burning of high school & gas station as 50 cars are torched “The police also said that, like on the day before, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a police van in the courtyard of the police station in Saint-Herblain, in the suburbs of Nantes.” More here “The Leonardo da Vinci vocational school, in the district of La Bottière, north-east of Nantes, was the object of the beginning of a fire. The facade of the school is partially blackened, it is the reception building which was the prey to the flames.…Near the high school, a kindergarten class at Urbain-le-Verrier school was also destroyed. …The Bar-PMU at the Doulon-Bottière shopping center was totally destroyed by the flames as well as a computer store. In Bellevue, the annex of the town hall and the Citizen’s House were targeted.“

4/7/18:

France, Nantes: cops occupy streets following riot in response to their murder of young driver “The locals, however, are apparently not pleased to see the massive police presence. The officers have been repeatedly pelted with various projectiles by the locals right from the windows of the nearby buildings, as well as by groups of angry locals in the streets. Police responded with tear gas as tensions seemed to be growing once again.”…despite cop occupation riots continue …Notre Dame de Landes: barricades burnt in solidarity with rioters of Nantes

3/7/18:

France, Nantes: massive riot after cop shoots young man dead during police check “Clashes between police and young people armed with Molotov cocktails… cars were burned and a shopping center was partly ravaged by the flames…The situation seemed to calm down shortly before 3am [4th July] in the Breil district, but other violence also broke out in two other sensitive areas of Nantes, the Dervallières and Malakoff, neighborhood where vehicles were burned“…More here “The driver tried to flee, backing onto a police officer….slightly injuring his leg. One of his colleagues then opened fire”…A witness from the scene gave a journalist from Ouest-France a filmed testimony that raises many questions about the proportionality of the colleague’s response: “He tried to make a reversal, the car crashed against the wall . He was already motionless, he could not do anything else. The policeman arrived, he fired at him point-blank, he put a bullet in his neck, directly. This resident says that he himself tried to resuscitate the victim. “There was no wounded riot cop,” he says, interrupted by another resident who shouted: “They’re Robocops! “… eight buildings were hit by fires, including a shopping center, as well as many vehicles, while law enforcement officers were sprayed with projectiles and Molotov cocktails….an annex of the Town and the law court, located in the same building, were affected by fire”

Nantes

Below: annex of the town hall housing also the law courts in flames

1/7/18:

France, Bretigny: bureaucratic archives destroyed in arson attack on Town Hall

27/6/18:

France, Essonne: 2 separate incidents of cops being stoned and/or petrol bombed by about 20 youths in banlieu; no arrests

21/6/18:

France, Paris: 2 management meetings of multinational company competing for privatised railway companies invaded by union-organised striking train company workers This action probably has very little independent about it, and is probably a desperate attempt to reinforce the unions’ (in this case, Sud-Rail) militant image, a sop to those behind-the-scenes- strikers who complain about the union but do nothing to develop independent actions. Which is not to say that the union isn’t under pressure from its base, but that unless workers begin to explicitly critique the union hierarchy, and begin to critique the social function of unions, they’ll invariably be “sold out”. See the appendix on Sud here

16/6/18:

France, Bure: construction company windows smashed, stones thrown at cops, etc. during demo against construction of nuclear waste site…lots of graffiti here

15/6/18:

France, Essonne: individual sets fire to cop car

13/6/18:

France, Lorraine: sabotage of railway tracks by SNCF strikers causes traffic jam between Metz & Luxembourg

14/6/18:

France, Bouches-du-Rhône: blockade and occupation of university costs state €400,000 “The list of damage is long: audio-visual material stolen, classes and amphitheaters tagged, detritus in the courts or broken locks.“

13/6/18:

France, Neuilly-sur-Seine (near Paris): clashes with riot cops as train-drivers try to storm TV station after transmission of bullshit propaganda “…a group of striking railway workers tried to force their way through the entrance of the headquarters of the M6 ​​channel to protest against a report on the show Capital they thought was lying. The CRS posted there in anticipation of clashes firmly pushed them back. Protesters responded with projectiles and smoke. The railway workers present expressed their anger at the broadcast of an issue of the show devoted to the privatization of transport in various European countries, broadcast by M6 on the evening of June 10 and described it as “propaganda” …They denounced as manipulations and lies the edition about working time, the age of retirement, their status and accuse it of presenting the reform in a particularly positive light….The unions will meet on the 13th to prepare for a round table organized on June 15th by Elisabeth Borne, the Minister of Transport, where they will meet employers and government.“

11/6/18:

France, New Caledonia: 800 meters of conveyor belt at mine destroyed by arson attack, the 3rd this year

9/6/18:

France, Gard: war memorial tagged

Above: The inscription below, which read “Glory to our eternal France, glory to those who died for her” has been changed to “…glory to those who died for nothing”

Below: other side of monument – “The police kill”

6/6/18:

France, Calais: clashes between riot cops and migrants – cop knocked out “The police and the riot cops are stoned almost every night”

5/6/18:

France, Valence: 2 screws’ cars torched outside prison More here“Photos of the private life of a guard were left behind and an inscription was tagged on a wall saying “first warning “.”

1/6/18:

France, St.Etienne: fires & anti-cop graffiti follow near-death at motorbike cops’ hands (same thing on 2nd June) In press releases, the cops “justified” their deliberate driving into the side of the 4-wheeler bike (the favourite method of the French filth, often causing death) because the guy had no helmet and the bike had no registration plates. Result: multiple fractures and severe head injuries. Witnesses said that the cops also tampered with the scene. On the Friday, there were 18 fires, on Saturday something similar. On Sunday a gathering of 200 people took place at the location of the “accident”, demanding justice.…Drôme: 2 industrial wind turbines torched

31/5/18:

France, Givors: cops beaten up by 15 youths during control on estate; no arrests

26/5/18:

France, Paris : cops injured a bit trying to stop bank being smashed up a bit

25/5/18:

France, Albi : cops stoned, Chamber of Commerce smashed, 6 cars burnt in banlieu riot…Grenoble: previously occupied language centre at University evacuated by students following threats of cop eviction found wrecked and tagged causing at least 1€m worth of damage

24/5/18:

France,Centre-Val-de-Loire: lots of cars burnt in different areas at same time as Mayor’s dining room window is shot at

23/5/18:

France, Yvelines: about 60 youths on estate ambush cops and attack them with projectiles, use burning barricades to escape and/or re-group…Lyon: stones v. teargas, disencirclement grenades & flashballs as 50 youths attack cops in poor area

22/5/18:

France, Loire-Atlantique: further clashes at ZAD… Paris: clashes with cops as 2 shops are attacked on public services demo…high school briefly occupied before violent eviction

Supply teachers give lesson on the function of “education”

17/5/18:

France, Loire-Atlantique: further clashes at Notre-Dame-Des-Landes

16/5/18:

France, Nice: president of uni is filmed threatening to kill student participating in occupation of his office

14/5/18:

France, Poitiers: arson attack on prison construction company machine (valued at 150,000€) in solidarity with ZAD

13/5/18:

France, Loire-Atlantique: 3rd day of renewed teargas-enveloped clashes at Notre-Dame-des-Landes “… since Friday evening sporadic clashes have pitted the mobile gendarmes against the “irreducible” zadistes opposed to any negotiation with the State, unlike the “moderates” who have submitted nominated projects. The gendarmes are trying to prevent the irreducible Zadists from concentrating en masse before the resumption of eviction operations that could take place in the coming days. On Saturday at noon, the zadists had planned … significant fortification works and construction of huts around the farm (squatted) … This time again, it seems that the gendarmes did not want to let them play kapla, and came onto the zone from 3pm on Friday, following the establishment of a fiery barricade on the crossroads of Saulce …clashes continued into the evening, until after 10pm. The Zadists found two wounded in their ranks, following the firing of disencirclement grenades and the start of a fire in the forest of Rohanne…A local resident: “Every night there are quarrels and barricades on fire on the roads”…“Every day, there is a parade of cops in full dress but no visible number, armored trucks parked with tht engine turned on. They advance, retreat, film, photograph, make lines, filing up in one direction, then in the other and leave. Then they come back … intimidation, a war of nerves that has lasted for weeks. …” On Saturday, clashes erupt again, first in the morning and then at 4 pm at the crossroads of the Saulce, since the zadistes continue to block again the RD81 and other roads with tires and palettes in flames. The reaction of the gendarmes is always the same: …tear gas to clear the area – teargas giving an orange fog, with pepper – then they remove the barricades with the help of the armored trucks – equipped with a blade to repel debris – whilst having various projectiles and bottles thrown at them….New clashes are still taking place with gendarmes this Sunday, and arrests have taken place. A zadist launched a call for help this Saturday evening: “the situation is very catastrophic on the ZAD […] In the space of 24 hours we got gassed I do not know how many times – so much teargas. Since last night at 10 pm they make tours every 2 hours and gas us without any reason and without warning … the situation is really very critical …“

Although this was put up on this anti-Zad site probably in order to belittle the Zadists, it in fact implies the desire for something youthfully innocent as against the truly miserable cynical senility of those who despise people who revolt because it reminds them of a desire for life that they’ve long repressed

12/5/18:

France, Val-de-Marne: about 30 people molotov police station after arrest of 3 men the previous weekend “…about half past midnight the attack began. Thirty people arrived with a caddy filled with heavy-duty fireworks, Molotov cocktails and … projectiles that were then launched towards the building. A few minutes later, fifteen other young people arrived armed with iron bars and other ammunition…The police responded with tear gas and reinforcements arrived. The group of young people fled by destroying and burning street furniture, requiring the intervention of firefighters, who had to be protected in turn by the police. Three people were arrested…. this violence occurred because of the arrest of three men last weekend. A “demonstration of support” for people in custody had already degenerated last Sunday.“

11/5/18:

France, Paris: exams at Nanterre canceled after clashes between blockading students (accompanied by train drivers, post office workers, truck drivers & temp workers) and teargas-spraying riot cops…near Nanterre university, blockaded for 3 weeks, the station is the target of an attack About 15 hooded people tagged the station with things like “ZADs everywhere”, sabotaging 2 ticket machines, 5 display panels and 14 electronic control gates; plus a CCTV camera was covered in paint.

10/5/18:

France, Paris: undercover cop working for state equivalent of Special Branch or CIA unmasked and expelled from General Assembly of university occupation, his recording equipment confiscated “Thursday, May 10, 2018 the General Assembly of the occupation of the student movement of Paris 8 Vincennes, Saint-Denis was held . During the GA, some of us spotted an odd-looking individual: an isolated man no one knew and with the look of an RG [Renseignement Generale – cop “intelligence” service]. After watching for a long time his suspicious behavior (he moved several times in the amphitheater), two comrades asked to speak to him outside. He immediately introduced himself as Damien Rigaud, winemaker in the South of France, currently studying oenology in Bercy and living in Aulnay-sous-Bois. Then came an absurd conversation of several minutes in which he said he had already come to the occupation for refugees to bring food (even going so far as to describe a comrade precisely), and that he’d wanted to give a hand . He presented himself as a great defender of refugees, which could have caused him problems with the local gendarmerie. He went as far as to say that he felt that there were cops in front of him when we asked him if he could prove his identity. Since he had no papers on him, we explicitly asked him if he was a cop. He tells us no, but a comrade insists on asking if he is RG: he answers that he does not know what it is, and when the comrade repeats his question several times he never answers that it is not the case. The situation then changes very quickly: we notice a thread protruding from his bag, connected to a button on the strap and which turns out to be a camera. We alert our comrades that a cop is present and he’s recording what’s happening and told the GA. While the unmasked RG sought to flee the faculty, we reacted en masse to prevent it. We blocked the exits and insisted collectively that he give us his recordings. He tried to save them right up to the end with a wreckless stubbornness, given the balance of power totally in his disfavor, but we managed to recover all the equipment: recording box with SD card, camera, microphone, bag and pack of notes. We finally inspected the photos on his phone despite his opposition, to make sure he did not take any evidence with him. Following this, we let him go accompanied by some slogans. After his departure, the inspection of the recovered equipment led us to notice a tiny camera incorporated into the button. We watched the video recordings of the GA: despite its size the camera gives a wide angle image with very good sound quality. We scare the state so much that such means are deployed against us to observe us.“

9/5/18:

France, Toulouse: after cops evict university occupation at 3.30a.m., student badly injured by disencirclement grenade (apparently “accidentally”) “Around 6 o’clock in the morning, fifty young people travelled towards Matabiau station by subway with the idea of ​​blockading it. During this trip, a student belonging to the group allegedly damaged a subway camera. Police officers formally identified him at the exit of the station “Arche Marengo” before proceeding to his arrest. According to a police source, the protester then resisted, forcing two policemen to control him, one of them having a disencirclement grenade in his pocket. During the arrest, this grenade accidentally unpinned. One policeman was burned, the other injured by shrapnel. The young man, himself, suffered the effect of the blast at the time of the detonation, effecting the thorax.”

7/5/18:

France, Paris: clashes at Montparnasse station (video)…Grenoble: exams postponed as students blocking exam rooms are teargassed

4/5/18:

France, Calais: about 50 migrants surround and stone riot cops…Toulouse: prisoner escapes

1/5/18:

France, Paris: various clashes as black blockers from round Europe come for mayday demo “Along the route of the march they looted and set fire to a McDonald’s restaurant and also torched a car, a mechanical digger and a scooter.” Worth mentioning that McDonalds was trashed in London in 2000. Not much progress in 18 years – these things have become kind of ritualised…Rennes: clashes with cops (no details) See this in French for a critique of this day in Paris

Renault car showroom burns, Paris

30/4/18:

France, Besançon: business school covered in graffiti “YOUR WORLD IS A ZONE TO DESTROY”, “OUR PAVING STONES ARE NOT LISTED ON THE STOCK EXCHANGE”, “SCHOOL OF SHEEP” , “RATHER AGITATORS THAN SALESMEN”, “ON 1 MAY, WE FEAST ON BOURGEOIS”

28/4/18:

France: Tolbiac damage to walls etc. estimated to cost over £600,000 Typical shallow flippant BBC journalism…Lyon: 2nd day of clashes with cops in popular area More here “In response to projectiles thrown from the street or windows of buildings, the national police fought back with tear gas and a few flashballs”.

26/4/18:

France, Loire-Atlantique: English-language reports on ZAD occupation This site is largely from an insufficiently critical perspective that ignores most of the contradictions that developed which showed the weaknesses of the ZAD in dealing with the divisions that were complicitous with the state’s divide-and-rule…Ariege: administrative buildings & engineering laboratory of tungsten mine, aimed at supplying arms industry, sabotaged & torched “…the arsonists first smashed a wall with a sledgehammer at the back of the workshop, before bringing in several tires that lay outside and set them on fire. A tank containing 18,197 liters of fuel oil exploded in the fire and a generator was destroyed, as was the roof of the workshop, whose metal frame was partly melted. In the offices, a second fire started damaging the PVC floor.” This mine had recently been re-opened after 30 years of closure. Everyone in the area apart, maybe, from the prefecture and the company, are likely to have celebrated this sabotage, as they invariably have opposed it on the grounds of health & safety. Tungsten is one of the strategic metals for civil and military use. For example, it is amalgamated with depleted uranium, or replaces it, for perforating “shock cones” and, given its relative rarity, its current price reaches that of “rare metals”, the group of metals without which it would be impossible to build any processor. In this region the extraction and refining of tungsten has very harmful effects on health: anorexia, amnesia, and so on, sometimes including lung cancer. Combined with asbestos used for decades in the mine…not hard to imagine the rest. The miners were often immigrant workers from North Africa who, now retired, have developed chronic diseases, never recognized, of course, as occupational diseases. For several months, the protests intensified against the reopening of the mine.

23/4/18:

France, Hauts-de-Seine (near Paris): over 150 workers occupy SNCF (state-run railway) building during another 24-hour strike; most trains cancelled This was mainly workers with CGT or SUD flags. Hard to know if this was yet another merely symbolic action, if the occupation lasted beyond a couple of hours…Another report here. See this site’s critique of these unions here…Loire-Atlantique: renewal of clashes at Notre-Dame-des-Landes (video)…80-year-old Zadiste arrested A text on some of the divisions in the movement, talked about below (especially entry for 9/4/18), here.

20/4/18:

France, Paris: Tolbiac occupation evicted, blockade lifted by cops…at least 4 hospitalised as media claims eviction happened without incident…man hit by BAC (Brigade Anti-Criminiel – psychotic cops in “plain clothes”) in a coma – immediate demonstrations in various parts of the country…cops deny this, calls it a “rumour” No confirmation either way, though this report in French, gives 3 witness accounts confirming that this event happened, though whether the guy, despite having been unconscious, fell into a coma or not is not clear. The implication is a possible state cover-up with media complicity. “A small group of occupants – including the witnesses, homeless people who had been actively involved in the occupation for about ten days – tried to flee the police by escaping from the back of the building, via the terraces, by a ladder connected to an adjacent street, rue Baudricourt. Police officers of the Anti-Crime Brigade (BAC) give chase. All occupants manage to get down to the street, except one. As he was about to get down, a BAC officer grabbed his leg. The occupant loses his balance, his head tilts forward and he crashes at least three meters below. Two witnesses saw the policeman’s action and the fall of the fugitive. A third witness confirms to Reporterre their description of the body, which he saw on the ground. The injured person, who fell on his face, had blood coming out of his mouth, nose and ears. The witnesses try to revive him, in vain. The man is in a state of unconsciousness. One of the witnesses immediately calls the firefighters, who arrive at the scene thirty minutes later and take away the young man. Shortly afterwards, police blocked access to rue Baudricourt, the site of the fall. At seven o’clock, municipal cleaners entered the street. One of the two direct witnesses sees them erase traces of blood on the ground.“ The report continues giving accounts from various people which neither clearly confirm nor genuinely deny this incident, partly because no-one knows which hospital this guy was taken to. In 1986 the death of an Arab at the hands of the cops was the main factor forcing the government to withdraw its education reforms. But the fact that the state has an obvious interest in making out that this is fake news does not in itself mean that it is true. We shall see, hopefully…

19/4/18:

France, Paris: teargas v stones etc. during demo & strike; windows of businesses smashed

Hotel Marriott, Paris: “Legal or not, our fury in your gob”

…Nanterre university blockaded & occupied See english translation of a leaflet I co-wrote for a demo on 14 april 2018 for a critique of some of the significant contradictions of this movement. When I find time, footnotes will be added to explain more concretely some of its general reflections. From afar this movement might seem like something BIG, when, for the moment at least, it is far more dominated by dreadful ideologies than, for instance, the movement of 2006. Of course, all this could change. Or not. The leaflet was received well by at least some young people, which is a change from the illusions of 2 years ago, but let’s not be over-optimistic. Both optimism and pessimism compete in people’s heads to stop those who want a development of self-organised struggles from trying to become clearer and from drawing practical consequences from striving to assess the pros and cons of events.

A student from the Immobilisation Committee of Montpellier’s occupied faculty talks to the media

This is a reference to the fact that, despite the media having clearly lied about the clashes on 14th April, in particular the regional rag Midi-Libre, students from the Mobilisation Committee gave interviews to these scum and allowed them to film a largish conference of the occupied section of the university, knowing full well that being filmed would prevent anybody with a less traditional, more radical, point of view from speaking their minds. In the movement of 2010 the media were prevented from coming onto the campus, but nowadays being famous for 15 minutes is considered a worthier pursuit than striving to attack the journalist thought-police along with all other cops. They somehow think that the media can help, by potentially filming cop brutality, to restrain the cops from such violence, even though they’d done their usual filthy work of deliberately distorting events last Saturday (April 14th) when the cops had been especially violent. More details later…

18/4/18:

France, Nantes: pallets set on fire at all 4 roads of major roundabout in solidarity with nearby ZAD struggle

17/4/18:

France, Lyon: about 30 youths clash with cops whilst they try to stop an unofficial motorbike race in street…Toulouse: 3rd night of riots

12 cars burn at Citroen car dealership, Toulouse

16/4/18:

France, Toulouse: 2nd night of riots extends to 3rd area

15/4/18:

France, Toulouse: police station attacked with molotov, 11 vehicles burn, cops stoned, burning barricades as youths from 2 popular areas express their fury at prison death of local man…though this in English says it was because a woman was arrested & charged with “rebellion” for refusing to remove veil…Loire-Atlantique: further clashes at ZAD

Notre -Dame-des-Landes, 15/4/18

14/4/18:

France, Nantes: clashes between Zadists and cops after cops prevent several 1000s on ZAD demo meeting up with train drivers & student demo – shop & bank windows smashed…Montpellier: cops teargas demo within a few minutes of it starting; subsequently shop & bank windows smashed, burning bin barricades etc.

See, in French, 2 texts on some of the contradictions of the current movement, including one distributed in Montpellier on this day.

13/4/18:

France, Paris: Sorbonne occupation evicted; train strikes resume The strikes are pretty much ritualised union gestures to allow the bureaucrats to retain their power round the negotiating table. See France Goes Off The Rails, about the 1986 – 87 strike, a successful wildcat organised independently of the unions. Quote: “At the beginning of November ’86, a non-union driver on the Paris Gare du Nord network put into circulation a petition demanding the amelioration of the drivers’ work conditions and the suppression of a project for a gauge of salaries based on promotion by merit (the petition also threatened the unions with “suffering the consequences” if they didn’t support the strike). The petition rapidly received over 200 signatures. Only the CFDT, whose presence amongst this category of employee is virtually insignificant, agreed to announce a strike for the 18th December. Very quickly, several depots in Paris & the provinces walked out on strike illegally, without previous announcement….” …Tolbiac university occupation threatened with eviction as president of university justifies this with calumnies that the place was being used for prostitution…Lyon: clashes between students and riot cops at university blockade…Notre-Dame-des-Landes (Loire-Atlantique): clashes continue as virtually all squats destroyed “The gendarmerie said it had made about ten arrests. There are wounded on both sides. According to the figures of the police, 45 gendarmes were wounded. According to the local medical teams, some sixty Zadists were affected, 130 according to the activists of the communication cell.“

Pile of teargas canisters – “Madame Prefect: next delivery – to the Prefecture”

12/4/18:

France, Notre-Dame-des-Landes (Loire-Atlantique): barricades destroyed by the gendarmes the day before are rebuilt “I had confidence in the prefect’s speech, in his overtures towards us. Negotiations were under way, and from the first day, we excluded people whose project was rigid…I feel betrayed, my sense of citizenship has been affected a little“…at least 6 cops injured in ambush 80 Zadists had been injured the day before, but today, despite (or maybe because of) 29 squats being destroyed, there seems to have been quite a counter-attack: apart from the ambush, 10 cops were injured, five of whom were burned by acid on their legs, and one wounded by several little explosions from an “improvised explosive device”. Five gendarmes were evacuated to hospital

armoured vehicles clearing away barricades, Notre-Dame-des-Landes

…Paris: Sorbonne occupied From afar this may seem like something big, because of its symbolic connection to May ’68 (see, for example, this, which speaks, amongst other things, of the occupation of the Sorbonne in ’68) …but unrealistic hope born out of an underlying despair desperately tries to convince itself that a lot more is happening than most of the evidence suggests. It ignores the enormous absence, so far, of critical vigilance (e.g. towards the unions) and of independent activity, of ideas-in-action – unlike May ’68, which is not to nostalgically minimise the problems of that epoch. No predictions of course – optimistic or pessimistic, but we live in an epoch where the unexpected rarely happens and, unlike 50 years ago, the large communities of working class rebellion hardly exist. But maybe from the little communities of discussion striving for practice beyond discussion combining with the little communities of rebellion within work places…well, you never know…Essonne: meeting of Minister of Labour plunges into darkness after locals sabotage transformer

11/4/18:France, Loire-Atlantique: 3rd day of clashes and burning barricades at Notre-Dame-des-Landes as about 150 Zadists continue their resistance to the divide-and-rule ‘compromise’ that leaves them landless & homeless (see entry 9/4/18 below)

Notre-Dame-des-Landes meets Wimbeldon

“By destroying the settlements around the D281, the gendarmes destroyed collective agricultural projects. Hence the anger of the ACIPA, the main association of opponents of the ex-airport project, and a feeling of betrayal expressed on Tuesday by zadists who believe they played by the rules of the game with the prefecture and have been cheated. The significance of the operation led opponents to call for mobilization. “If tonight the prefecture does not withdraw its troops, there’ll be general mobilization,” said Julien Durand, spokesman for Acipa, on Tuesday….On Tuesday, the clashes were more violent than the day before, with twenty-eight injured gendarmes…According to Wednesday morning’s assessment of the medical team of zadists, about twenty opponents were injured, including one who was hospitalized after thirty being injured on Tuesday, including two hospitalized.“…Montpellier: about 30 masked students sabotage administration’s internet site (including smashing up machines) during blockade and part-time occupation of campus; site no longer functions This action was in response to the admin’s decision to organise exams via the internet, and was followed by about 200 personnel & professors demonstrating against this sabotage, though amongst radical students it was popular, obviously. The site was back up within 36 hours, and the admin said that no data was lost, but several students suspected that this was them trying to put up a good front, that it was not true.

Politics of French Rap

“ French culture combines a highly rationalistic mode of discourse with great value placed upon verbal articulation. In an important way, every educated French person is expected to ‘rap’ …Those who possess African, North African, Caribbean or other third-world cultures in addition to being French, combine the rhetorical training peculiar to the educational system with more “traditional” oral cultures…” – L. Portis, “French Frenzies”.

Rap in France has recently been given a boost in its rebellious image. A leading government party politician, backed by 200 senators and deputies, has recently started the prosecution of 7 rappers, including the most famous – a rapper called ‘Mr.R.’ (Richard Makela) for insulting France, for saying that “France is a bitch, don’t forget to fuck her till she’s exhausted/You have to treat her like a slut, man…I piss on Napoleon and on General de Gaulle”. This combination of genuine hate and a crass traditional masculine way of expressing it has been the classic content of rap for years. Undoubtedly these words are an insult – to ‘sluts’ and to women for liking sex – the usual hypocritical mysoginist crap rap. France and Napoleon and de Gaulle are obviously unquantifiably worse than ‘sluts’, as are all countries and all their leaders. The compulsion to shock sometimes hits the right target a bit – particularly when it’s attacking France, the cops or the media. But it undermines anything valid by expressing itself so shoddily. By being often arbitrarily provocative for its own sake, it illuminates little because its aim is always to sell, to turn anger into a commodity, to popularly represent anger in a traditional masculine way. Sadly, it also reflects some of the stupidities of many men (their deformed attitude towards their own sexuality, as well as women’s) , not only in these ‘ethnic’ groups, but amongst many French men generally.

The prosecution got the go-ahead post-riots(i.e. the riots of November 2005).

Is this a bizarre self-delusion on the part of the State? Do they think that attacking rap is necessary because it genuinely incites riots? Surely it is riots that feed rap, which then, through the inverted logic of the need for this society to find hierarchical scapegoats/Leaders, is seen as the instigator. At the same time, French rap seems to be more genuinely on the edge of merely teasing with an image of violence and a heart-felt hatred of the system than, say, in the USA, probably because France is often more overtly racist, and up to now hasn’t been forced to adopt much of a margin of integration like the States was after the far more threatening riots of the 60s (in the US the State made a conscious attempt to create a black middle class, a social buffer zone; a strata of black representation and a social position to aspire to). For instance, the ‘political’ rappers are almost invariably banned from radio and TV (so far). And yet, at the same time, some municipalities have been providing financial subsidies to selected rappers for some ten years now, so in many ways it’s a French version of the very usual stick and carrot, sometimes 20 years behind everywhere else, sometimes very modern. This is partly because of the vast across-the-board rebellion in many different aspects of society and of life there. And the need to use race as a basic divide and rule makes for some very intense contradictions: French society has to brutally repress and falsify the non-whites (e.g. by caricaturing the explosions as simply ‘preying on their own kind’ or ‘shitting on their own doorstep’) at the same time as enticingly integrate a few of them, providing ‘hope’.

Some American Leftists complain about the lack of affirmative action there, ironic since it is the obnoxious right-wing Presidential hopeful Sarkozy who is now pushing for positive discrimination as a way of providing “hope” (“hope is the leash of submission” as a 60s revolutionary once said). Mr.R. has as guest co-star on his last album – “Politically Incorrect” – the head of the Trot organisation, the LCR (which, faced with the non-existent, and manipulated, fantasy prospect of the National Front coming to power, urged its audience to ‘Vote for Chirac’, as did quite a few ‘anarchists’ – about as ‘politically incorrect’ as you can get). Are there those in the State who think it’s worth boosting this professional image of opposition? Isn’t French rap simply an unthreatening image, like the LCR – essentially representing the poor, and almost always in terms of some amelioration of conditions, rather than in the radical destruction of these conditions (French rap, when it tries to be positive, calls for work and respect, as if the two are compatable)? Mr. R. himself appealed to this unthreatening image when he said, “There are plenty of songs that are part of this country’s artistic heritage and every bit as virulently anti-France, and nobody complains.” – but then when possibly facing 3 years inside, you use such democratic arguments. Repressed, rap appeals to such democracy within a limited narrow perspective of a moan about cultural censorship – when most people have to shut their mouths all the time when they work and can never appeal to the privilege of a specialised cultural bubble -“Hey – I’m an artist!”. At the same time it reflects something more general – an increasingly common individualist consciousness which thinks only of one’s own misery: everybody wanders why they are the ‘exception’, why the State and the system is picking on them even as it ‘picks on’ millions. This is essentially because unless there is common class struggle, all these miseries become just little you on your own, or in your little unit, trying to fight your way through the jungle. And rap artists too have to defend their corner. But there’s a difference in a rap artist and other workers. Workers who rebel for the most part only identify with the money they get from the work, not with the alienation they produce. Rappers pretend to rebel but identify very strongly with the commodity they produce: it’s them themselves.

Sarkozy has already, some two years ago, tried to prosecute some rappers, for, amongst other things, “anti-semitism” (in fact, for supporting Palestinians against Israel) but without success (though a few years back, in Toulon, the National Front mayor and judge did manage to successfully prosecute some rappers, who got 3 months inside, and were banned from playing for 6 months which shows how insanely racist France is). Maybe the State thinks it’s worth experimenting with trying to terrify everybody into silence? Regardless of the intention, the effect is the same – providing rap with a post-riot image of genuine rebellion and and a post-riot role model for getting out of the hell-hole estates. Mr.R. himself no longer lives on the estates – despite his continuing need to claim to represent these estates; after all, it’s the estates that provide him with his income, and the announcement of Mr.R.’s intended prosecution has already boosted sales, surprise surprise.

This was written at the end of 2005. In July 2006 the prosecution of Mr.R was dropped.” – From here

“The recent popular French film Les Choristes depicts a pion from an earlier period – early 50s. The film takes place in a vicious boarding school for ‘difficult’ kids, often in trouble, orphaned or just a burden to their parents, where the ‘pion’ is a middle-aged classic sympathetic authority role. The clichéd, oft repeated, nice authority role in a nasty dictatorial sadistic environment, enforcing a milder form of discipline whilst reluctantly going along with many of the heavier aspects but also ‘revolting’ against it, is the main character. This revolt takes the form of secretly (against the tyrannical headmaster’s wishes) conducting and helping the boys sing as a choir, which of course gives most of these previously ignored and often brutally suppressed kids a way of ‘expressing themselves’, at least two of whom later become world famous musicians themselves. And they ‘express themselves’ so beautifully too: the record of the film is a top seller. The (unpaid) teenage choir is followed by fans singing the classical-style tunes. The real choirmaster who teaches this choir to perform in the film and now in concert halls is not at all sympathetic – but a typical rude humiliating bossy choirmaster openly displaying his nasty manner to the documentary cameras. But the kids seem to like producing a beautiful product despite the heavy social relations, which aren’t even based on wage slavery – just slavery straight. Perhaps part of this is their parents’ pressure, but undoubtedly the biggest seduction for enduring this is the fact of becoming celebrities, the compensation for miserable social relations. The tautological nature of this society is thus well affirmed by this well-made film: culture, the production of ‘beauty’, appears as the way out, though the hierarchical relations involved in producing culture are just as ugly and bad as the misery for which culture appears to be the way out. This film comes 80 years after another, far more innovative and – for its time – subversive, film which also portrays a sympathetic pion – Zero de Conduite (“Zero for Conduct”) by the French anarchist Jean Vigo, a silent movie from the 20s which influenced the recuperative movie “If” in the late 60s; Vigo is now accepted within the mainstream of French culture, with media libraries named after him – but that’s down to the enormously recuperative power of French capitalism, in particular its culture (mind you, what, worldwide, isn’t co-opted into the system in some way or another over half a century, and often a lot less, afterwards?) ” – here

“At about the same time that Moore was sitting down in the streets of Cannes to show his CGT-sponsored ‘support’ for the ‘intermittents’* the increasingly precarious intermittents themselves were expressing an interestingly innovative critique of the cinema – occupying one of them, only to be evicted, beaten up and arrested by the cops.” – here

“The French equivalent [of Big Brother] was greeted with denunciations of its totalitarianism, its disrespect for human dignity, its public humiliation, its voyeurism. Though some of this sounds like classical French bourgeois philosophy, this perspective does carry within it the germ of a genuinely revolutionary desire which is still there. Which is one reason why some protestors dumped rubbish bins in front of the offices of the commercial channel that broadcast it, protesting at “trash television”, whilst riot police launched tear gas against 70 protestors who tried to storm the loft area it was being broadcast from.” – here.

“During the movement against pension reform in France the cops applied certain methods which were qualitatively very different from those which had been used in the past. No more police lines encircling everyone. No more threatening legions of cops. No more tear gas bombs emptying public squares. Instead we saw a few plainclothes cops discreetly moving among the demonstrators, arrests which were as singled out as possible, small cans of tear gas which the cops used to spray the eyes of the rare undisciplined proletarians in such a way that it wouldn’t hurt those standing near him. In this way the demonstration took place, expressing its democratic right with no outbursts whatsoever. Ten minutes after the end of the demonstration had been called ( stipulated in the negotiations with the prefect) the public square was clean and empty. It’s certainly efficient.” – here

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