This blog essay reviews the ongoing protests in France since last November, reporting that the police response has been measured yet “seventeen eyes and four hands have been lost so far.” The protests are not clearly far-right or far-left, ideological, anti-EU or anti-immigration, or tightly orchestrated, according to the essayist. Resentment and alienation seem to be the primary motivations, fueled by the social media echo chamber. The movement is currently splitting — “Some have decided to enter the mainstream political system to try to reform it or destroy it from the inside,” while others “are furious and still believe they can somehow bring down the French state, by demonstrations each Saturday.”
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