Reply With QuoteNot seen a GJ in my area, N. Dordogne, for weeks. Perhaps different in Paris and similar cities, but not heard any comments from the French locals. Nice that all the speed cameras have been “decommissioned” though!Originally Posted by bootneck
Does anyone know what’s happening ? Speaking with a french guy last night in work and apparently this is absolute carnage and has now spread to Belgium and it’s all subjected to a news blackout. Just wondering if anyone had heard anything or could shed any light on the situation .
Not seen a GJ in my area, N. Dordogne, for weeks. Perhaps different in Paris and similar cities, but not heard any comments from the French locals. Nice that all the speed cameras have been “decommissioned” though!
Is it on the news in France ? Just seems strange we’ve heard very little given the amount of trouble going on
Not as of yesterday. Not checked today. Macron is trying to (re)engage with the general populace, being regarded as an advocate for rich cityfolk. He has written a letter to all households explaining his aims for the state, and is conducting regional meetings in the Mairies.
Things are pretty hairy in the cities, regular media don't mention it. For more real-time info and for background info: https://twitter.com/niemandsknegt Would be nice when you understand Dutch and French... On the other hand: scrolling through the Twitter account and watching the footage of previous weeks doesn't bring out warm feelings for the French Police.
French media showed an injured CRS cop being dragged away from the 'front'. It gives the viewer the idea that he was hit by a rock or something. An uploaded phone video showed that he got hit by a bullet from a gun that was in the hands of his colleague next to him... Modern media, un-edited don't lie...
Last Saturday a leading GJ demonstrator was shot in the face, ripping out an eye. The French minister of internal affairs stated that the CRS peloton wasn't armed with guns, so the injury had to come from another side. Sadly(...) for the minister, raw phone footage showed a CRS cop aiming for the GJ demonstrators and firing a rubber bullet into the face of the demonstrator...
Most injuries are head or eye-related: French police aims for the heads and eyes of the demonstrators.
I have posted about this on another page: https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.p...-French-police
Footage is not for the faint-hearted
To be fair, you might expect some coverage on the national news over here. I've not seen any recently although with all the Brexit coverage, I've not been glued to the news.
Gotta love the froggies (and the frogettes)
They take no crap from their government.
If the government doesn't exercise the will of the people....then look out...
Our back stabbing, lying, cheating, sycophantic, self serving politicians wouldn't last a nannosecond.
Vive la revolution!!!
The Guardian had a piece today about the horrific injuries that are being inflicted by the use 'explosive weapons'..
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...injuries-paris
I don’t understand how this is not being reported when we are drowning and sick to death of chuffing Brexit.
I thought not hearing about it meant it had all been resolved.
Can someone really implement a complete news blackout of something happening in a foreign land?
The conspiracy is they're frightened it'll spread Europe wide (already happening in Belgium apparently) so they've put a news blackout on everything and anything that shows the police in a poor light. I was shocked I hadn't heard anything either
Looks like it's kicked off in London. A few GJs in this leak via Twitter:
https://twitter.com/josephmdurso/sta...23869896675328
The France 24 news app had an extensive piece on this today. No link possible.
1900 injured, including 1200 police. It's happening every weekend. One side says ten people have lost an eye, the government says four. The EU is discussing banning the rubber ball guns.
It's a battle between Macron and intellectual lefties. Lots of them.
Last edited by Glamdring; 31st January 2019 at 00:55. Reason: Typo
Be asured, it's still going on. But the government is obviously aiming at creating a spiral of violence so that they can declare a nationale emergency, curfews and so on. Meanwhile, the larger confrontations are often no longer in Paris but in other cities like Bordeaux and Toulouse. Quasi-permanent camps on road intersections have in many cases been cleared out (i.e. destroyed) by police, but protesters keep coming to these roundabouts. I passed a group of them last Saturday.
The 'national debate' is considered by many to be just a lot of blabla.
Historically, this all very much resembles the events leading up to the French Revolution in 1789... The books with the demands and complaints of the population that were written down by the people have been carefully conserved, and show practically identical demands. King Louis XVI did not do enough about them and it cost him his head. They have scrapped, for now, the extra carbon tax on motor fuel and heating oil and made some symbolic gestures, spread some coins around, but Macron keeps saying that he 'will not change course'. The latest scrap he may be throwing the populace is cancelling the introduction of stricter speed limits on country roads (80 instead of 90 km/h - and no, not all the speed cameras have been put out of commission by the protesters, I was flashed for doing 86 a week ago on a road that used to be limited at 90...). Meaning that all those signs saying 80 that were just installed will have to be taken down again, at huge cost (public/road work is a scam as everywhere, it takes at least three vehicles and half a dozen men to set up or take down a sign, five of whom are watching the sixth working...). The real problems like a lack of public services and transport in rural and peri-urban areas are not dealt with. I live in a French rural area and have seen railways closed, tax offices closed, post offices closed, medical services reduced, schools closed and so on. Meaning also a loss of jobs. More and more working people have to go to food banks to feed their families, as they only get minimum wage and there is nothing left after the rent and other fixed costs have been paid. Of course the food banks are in the cities and you need a car to go there as there is no public transport... etc.
Indeed the discussion now is dominated by the excessive use of violence and 'non lethal' weapons by the riot police. Just look at photos of police handling these 40 mm launchers, they hold them with the stock against their shoulders and the barrels horizontal, so many of those projectiles will hit people in the head or neck. Blinding people is one of the worst things you can do to them.
Hope and Unity
Hehe
Last edited by -Ally-; 31st January 2019 at 07:54.
... and then Macron (on Twitter) applauds the people of Venezuela to march on the streets to applaud the overthrowing of the Ven. president...
You see the same here: there was for some reason (subject is too far 'off' from this topic to mention) a group of men and women that got convicted for stopping a bus on a motorway in the northern part of The Netherlands. Their sentence was high. We have a law that allows DNA taken from a convict when he/she has done something really bad and is convicted accordingly (high). Now these people, with no prior conviction than this single one are ordered to come to a police station for their DNA sample! A quick crowdfunding action raised 250,000 euros in a few hours to pay for a team of top-lawyers to prevent this from happening.
(... on tip of my toes here not to overstep the rules of this part of the forum... all I wrote above are facts, trying to keep out my opinion. Perhaps best we should continue this in the Bear Pit!).
Menno
Not exactly kicking off in that video.
It was posted tongue in cheek. The reporter described it as 'BIG' whereas it consisted of a coach load or two of people, a few of which look bewildered. The comments to the tweet are entertaining.
Last edited by Monkey Queen; 31st January 2019 at 12:02.
They have been out on force on my last two trips to Brussels.
it made me chuckle, thanks.
Can't disagree with any of that !
B
This thread title is totally inaccurate and ill informed.
This is just one example of today’s issue, in English. The French version has more.
https://www.mediapart.fr/en/english
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Why is it inaccurate and ill informed? It’s not exactly front page news over here is it I’ve certainly not seen it on the bbc news app.
Was given this link by the Frenchman I’m working with
https://www.bfmtv.com
Seems pretty bad to me but yet I had no idea it was even still going on and it seems a few on this thread didn’t know either.
The balance between all what's happening and the amount of information given by newspapers and news-TV is way off. You should expect that, when 300K people (numbers accounted for by the French Police officers union) are on the streets for the 12 consecutive week and people are maimed for life, all happening in a European country, the news should be all over it. And that's what worries many people and is fuel to conspiracy theories like the D notice.
M
Do you have any idea of what happens in ANY European country?
It is one of the things that struck me in the news in this country when I arrived. You will be told everything about the US (be it the weather, Hollywood, the latest mass shooting or if someone farted in the WH) but for a Continental event to hit front page, it had to be dramatic or involve the UK directly.
The GJ were mentioned by the press the first couple of weeks. But as it is a Saturday event, it soon became boringly repetitive enough to justify a very limited coverage.
Yet a search with ‘Gilets Jaunes’ on the Guardian leads to more than 50 results, and about 30 on the Beeb. Some blackout.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Double post
Last edited by Saint-Just; 3rd February 2019 at 08:38.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
You implied early on in the thread that it wasn’t on main stream media, Menno. Again it is completely wrong. It’s all over the front page of most. There are mistakes in the reporting because the police are inaccurate in the information they supply (whether it’s on purpose or not would be too political. This thread, in this section, is ill judged enough as it is). When you’re a journalist and either side has a casualty, you go and ask them what happened. In the example you quoted the police said he had been hit by something thrown by the GJ. So that was printed. Those who knew he was in fact his own victim said nothing.
Again, once the truth had been established it was national news.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Guess it’s not a good time to invest in French property then..
When it comes to protesting and downing tools the French are certainly the best at it.
I was not clear enough, I'm afraid. When I mention 'mainstream media', I'm referring to Dutch media. Before writing this, I did a quick search on the websites of Dutch newspapers (NRC, Telegraaf and Volkskrant). Only the NRC offers a behind-the-paywall article about the Macron's intelligence and how this works against him(...). Nothing about injuries, wrong counting of the number of demonstrators etc. The NRC has two articles about the Venezuela uprise, though. (Which is not remarkable: lots of people from Venezuela are seeking refuge on the Dutch Antilles).
I also totally agree with you about the ill-judgement of posting this subject here. I started a thread about this in the BP. The thread is called 'French police...'. I even referred in a previous posting to that thread and suggested it would be wiser to hop over to that thread, content-wise.
Menno
@St just
I'd expect it to be front page news given what's happening, never mind. Now I remember why I had you blocked because of your style and views on Hillsborough.
Events in South America seem to be getting far more attention then events next door, coincidence ?
Thankfully Twitter hasn’t been throttled and the brutality of the French state is clear to all who cares to look. It’s the stuff you would expect to see from the Germans of yesteryear.
Coincidentally, an article in this morning's paper said the British are the non-resident property owners who pay the most, on average, for real estate in Paris; followed by Americans and Italians. Americans and Italians are more numerous buyers but with lower budgets.
I did find some reporting on this on the BBC, but I had to look for it. The article also reported that the French authorities had decided to allow continued use of anti riot measures which included, I think, the “flash balls” and rubber bullets.
What’s remarkable about these protests is how long they have been going on for, and their widespread distribution. I don’t think we’ve had anything even vaguely similar in the UK since maybe the poll tax protests under Thatcher, from what I recall the London anti capitalist protests were over in a weekend, and other protests have been related to a specific event such as a police shooting, not just widespread discontent as these appear to be.
Still, as soon as the European Army is in place this type of protest will be quickly resolved,
Sent from my iPad using TZ-UK mobile app
Ps - I meant to say that I did think it had all stopped, since I didn’t see it on the main news channels but discussion here prompted me to look further
Sent from my iPad using TZ-UK mobile app
It only happens on Saturdays as many if not most have a full time job. Hence not being front page news on other days except to mention the appalling consequences.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
You bet, not be up to facing a serious opponent like the russkis.I did find some reporting on this on the BBC, but I had to look for it. The article also reported that the French authorities had decided to allow continued use of anti riot measures which included, I think, the “flash balls” and rubber bullets.
What’s remarkable about these protests is how long they have been going on for, and their widespread distribution. I don’t think we’ve had anything even vaguely similar in the UK since maybe the poll tax protests under Thatcher, from what I recall the London anti capitalist protests were over in a weekend, and other protests have been related to a specific event such as a police shooting, not just widespread discontent as these appear to be.
Still, as soon as the European Army is in place this type of protest will be quickly resolved,
Sent from my iPad using TZ-UK mobile app
Just testing what's been said above about 'news blackout'...
French Unions have called for a general strike in the whole of France. For what I see on Twitter, there are thousands of people on the streets. What does your newspaper write about it? After all, it has been a while since there was a general strike in a Northwestern EU country...
M
Wow a nation wide general strike, have not seen anything in the papers.
On Twitter you can find it under #grevegenerale5fevrier ('General Strike Feb 5th').
To amend my first text about the General Strike: apparently, the French Union CGT (± 700,000 members) has called for the strike. The other large Union CFDT (750,000) didn't, but smaller Unions under the CFDT 'umbrella' have joined the CGT protest.
Last edited by thieuster; 5th February 2019 at 15:04.
The call was made yesterday , for a strike... today (although the call is for the strike to be ‘reconductible’, carried over several days)
Liberation has this as front page headline:
https://www.liberation.fr/france/201...prenne_1707410
It is only the CGT Paris federation, not the rest of the CGT (the ‘C’ stands for confederation, so many federations across France)
It is basically unions and politicians trying to jump on the GJ bandwagon, with a double goal: maximise the attack against the government, but also manage the strike to try and control the GJ as to find an issue to the crisis.
This one is from the L’Humanité newspaper, the voice of the CGT through the Communist Party
https://www.humanite.fr/mobilisation...sociale-667431
The Figaro (right wing, pro government) has a live coverage on its front page plus a few related articles:
http://www.lefigaro.fr
Finally, Le monde:
https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/art...29_823448.html
And that is close to 100% of national newspapers covering politics. Some blackout!
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Thanks for the links. Worth reading (and watching) and also for the details about the CGT. Also thanks for the details about the Parisian 'part' of the Confederation. When I have a look on Twitter, there are a lot of CGT protesters in other cities and towns. Did they join the strike as well or is differently organised?
The French coverage is what you call nearly 100%. The 'test' as I called it, is about foreign (to France) newspapers, like in The Netherlands - currently NO coverage. When I look on Google for 'Streiks Frankreich', only on German newspaper (Handelsblat) has info. And just try for yourself in English: 'Strike France'...
M
Last edited by thieuster; 5th February 2019 at 16:29.
I understand what you mean Menno but really it was such last minute... if it was well followed it will be covered but it’s not that newsworthy otherwise. I understand people on Twitter would claim it as massive but it is probably more realistic to check coverage tonight and tomorrow, after the event.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
The call to a general strike might have been answered by telephone hygienists or toad sexers, but there's not much evidence of anyone else bothering with it. Schools are open, public transport is operating normally, road sweepers are sweeping, etc. Despite France's reputation and what the trade unions would like to believe, union membership averages around 11%, 18% for the public sector and under 9% for the private sector.
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