He might have been better thinking about those three children before taking part in a demonstration that had the potential to turn nasty
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Sadly this guy got caught up when things turned ugly and the police started using tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the GJ’s. It’s unclear whether he got hit by a rubber bullet or a tear gas canister, the police have been instructed to aim below the waist to minimise injuries but I have read that to date at least a dozen people have lost an eye due to being hit by a rubber bullet which is shocking if true.
Unfortunately the longer these protests go on more serious injuries (among GJ’s and the police) are likely.
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Hi Helen, Every Saturday afternoon for the past few weeks Bordeaux is like a war zone - the protesters are told where they can march peacefully with police protection. They choose to ignore the route and flood the commercial areas causing mayhem. The forces of order try to prevent it using the means authorised to disperse the crowds before the fires, looting and attacks on police start. Hundreds of businesses cannot operate legitimately and lose thousands every week.
If the police just left them to it we would have anarchy and wanton violence and destruction - That’s how anti-capitalists and people like black block operate.
I have concerns about the training in the use of some weapons used by the police and believe that the problem stems from the police strategy in allowing the crowds to congregate in the first place. Kettling has been effective in the UK perhaps the CRS could learn a thing or two from other countries (if their arrogance allowed!).
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You’re right to have concerns! I’ve been on a shooting range with the Paris Police with .38 specials & quite frankly some had trouble hitting the target. (BTW I came 3rd out of 20, very pleased as I hadn’t fired a side arm for years).
I doubt that the police really try to hit people during riots as most untrained killers have real difficulty firing a weapon directly at another human unless they are psychopaths, the rest tend to fire in the general direction & not aim just hoping thing will calm down or go away.
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Good to see the GJ’s managed to shutdown the centre of Bordeaux again today - shops closed, trams stopped at midday and police lobbing tear gas canisters about. This could be the new normal.
This made me laugh - according to the Ministry of the Interior there were only 27,000 Jilly Joneses demonstrating throughout France as at midday today…
Gilets Jaunes - 27,000 Manifestants en France…
Nowhere near as many people as can be found in McDonald’s outlets in France each Saturday 
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Fair weather protesters Simon…
I think it was pissing down and a fairly chill wind to boot!
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The Secretary of State has announced the continued use of rubber bullets. Apparently without this deterrent the police officers run a high risk of being lynched by the crowds.
I for one won’t criticise the police response to these weekend thugs but am saddened that two months on we don’t seem to be any further forward in resolving the unrest.
Our eldest son lives in the Stalingrad area of Bordeaux just the other side of the river from the centre and he hasn’t been into the centre on a Saturday since the middle of November which IMO is a crazy situation.
So much for Liberty.
Fine if you want to get caught up in anarchic protests.
Not so fine if you have a business where they are protesting, endangering the jobs of other workers.
That is quite a sobering state of affairs, why is it called Stalingrad?
Commemorates the siege
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from a particular perspective? I assume from the USSR rather than German.
Not from an Allied perspective? 
The same for the Metro station?
(When the 5 month Nazi/Axis siege of Stalingrad was broken by the Red Army) Britain’s conservative Daily Telegraph proclaimed that the victory had saved European civilisation.
The country celebrated “Red Army Day” on 23 February 1943.
A ceremonial Sword of Stalingrad was forged by King George VI. After being put on public display in Britain, this was presented to Stalin by Winston Churchill.
A little history to evidence the reason for the celebrity of the Stalingrad siege. Lest we forget.
Well yes from the Soviet point of view, our allies and all that, not Vichy’s allies, obv.
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You may also find that after the war the Communists had regional, local governments & town counsels & renamed or named streets, roads, squares, housing estates, etc.
And quite right too.
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The métro station was called Stalingrad in 1946, before that it was just the street or the quartier name.
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