Protests and Social Unrest in France

Thousands of protesters clashed with police across France in the

country's biggest wave of unrest in years.

France is living through something that looks less like a single protest

movement and more like the slow breakdown of the social contract between the

state and its citizens. And what makes this round different from

the

yellow vests of 2018 is that it started with

children. When teenagers are walking out of schools because the

ceilings leak, the classrooms hold 40 students,

and there are

not enough teachers to cover the schedule, and then the state's response

includes rubber bullets and stun grenades that cost kids

their eyes and hands, the moral authority of the government

to lecture about respect for property evaporates

overnight.