Please don’t, Jeanette.
Seriously, if you find yourself in the middle of a scuffle or faced with a band of GJs chanting slogans and you try to politely ask one of them where the nearest post office is, he probably won’t even hear you and if he does he will more likely than not take no notice. It may sound sensible advice and it will work up to a point, but it doesn’t seem to take into account crowd behaviour and mob mentality. Once that takes hold and the mob gets whipped up, they go into flght or flight mode and it’s a bit like tunnel vision, distractions don’t register. It’s how people get trampled on and crushed against railings etc.
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Jeanette… After all these years, I expect you can speak French like a native… so would be able to catch the attention of the person you describe… it might not be so easy for a non-French speaker…
I would be more concerned about an accidental injury than a deliberate one,but I now feel if Jeanette wants to take the risk it is nothing to do with us
We have 2 Policemen (Police Nationale aged 46 and 24) and 1 Sapeur Pompier (aged 23) in our family - all Paris based. Therefore, I hope you’ll forgive me if I say (my ‘opinion’) that some of the posts on this discussion make for incredibly difficult, and depressing reading. I specifically refer to the anti-police / forces of order comments.
I’ve just shared a cuppa with one of my cousins and her policeman husband - he’s down South on a few days leave - first break since the ‘troubles’ started. He’s an upbeat, charming and witty guy with extensive police experience over 25 years. It was sad to see the look on his face when describing to me the levels of abuse and ‘venom’ he’s been subjected to recently. But, as he said, it’s par for the course these days - a different world.
PS - I know conversations ‘drift’ but this one needs a new title!!
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…I think that an important thing to remember is that all of us live in quite dangerous times, or at least …not to forget that violence and sudden aggression is considerably more common in Europe than any of us may have experienced over the previous years. I read about the kind of challenges people have to face, not least because I travel, because of my work, quite a bit, so I think about how people have dealt with the mix of awful circumstances, involving mindless uncontrolled violence, as a safety measure. There are a few websites that offer personal experiences of managing terror attacks, riots etc, many much worse than any of us are likely to have to deal with, but…as a kind of ‘better to know, than not’ response. “The streets can go very bad, very quickly, wherever you are! What can we learn from this video and what could have been done differently?”. Comes from this site, with the particularly awful attack on a young woman reporter, in her own words.
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Seriously ?? Seriously ?? …The videos in the article are from 1988 and 2011! Let’s try and deal with today shall we…?
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At the Old Folks’ do last Sunday… 3 of the local gendarmes came by to speak with the Maire. After their chat, he invited them in … and I am pleased to tell you that everyone clapped as they came through the door… and cries of Meilleurs Vœux echoed across the room.
I offered them some cold non-alcoholic beers (from OH’s special supply) but they graciously declined… and settled for coffees… and some of the delicious desserts on offer… 
It was a moment when we, the ordinary folk, could show our personal support for these gendarmes, who are doing their best in difficult circumstances.
Again, the clapping and bravo-ing echoed loudly, as they got up to leave…
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It doesn’t matter at all, for the ideas I wrote about…when, or where those vids originated. If they were each a hundred years old and from the middle of the Antarctic… managing crowd violence, hostile interaction, intimidation, etc …works out pretty much the same way.
Considering how to survive it, is in my opinion, likely to be very similar for groups and individuals around the world.
Jeanette it simply isn’t possible to learn how to deal with a hostile or potentially hostile situation from internet videos.There is a serious danger of it instilling a false confidence in ones abilities in these circumstances. The police are constantly doing dynamic risk assessments and reassessing what is going on around them These are trained professionals
Jeanette, the world changes … a hundred years ago there wasn’t you tube, internet or videos.
Your opinion is your own, frankly if you think that you can go out in a hostile, violent crowd and be able to ‘manage them’ then good luck to you!
If you think it’s that easy then maybe you should be giving lessons to people who have to face these situations every day.
Your life is your own but I do hope that if you go out there in those sort of situations that no life is lost trying to protect an elderly lady who should know better.
That’s my opinion !
Nellie, we will just have to agree to differ on that.!!..Personally …I think that the internet, with all the availability of its immense resources around the world…is already one of the best if not the best source of education, learning, that most of the world has access to. Whenever there is any information I need from basic to complex, I have found plenty of courses at all levels to teach me all I need to know! Universities are using it more and more, the Open University of UK …for decades. From academic theory to practical! Techniques for sharing information as delicate as brain or heart surgery, traffic, law and order, economics and business studies…etcetcetc! The last few bits of useful practical info I have learned…basic survival, building a simple shelter, keeping warm…repairing my car, and bike, installing a small motor on a pedal bike, building a rocket stove, plus numerous ideas on sciences and arts…plus psychology and counseling, plus countless others!! Wonderful stuff!!!
Jeanette -100% disagree with you. No worries though, we’re just from different planets! 
(thankfully!)
Anne, I don’t think I have said there is anything “easy” in dealing with or managing one’s own life or the lives of others, in hostile or aggressive surroundings. The fact seems to me, to be, that whether we like it or not, whether it is easy or not, some of us may well find ourselves in those kinds of situations at least once in a lifetime. People have to manage them, and I am interested in considering best ways to do that, for myself, for others and for the forces of law and order.
right! Simon! No worries! 
I wrote about the reports of weapons used and the injuries caused by them. That people are seriously injured in violent crowds, is usually inevitable, but weapons that are supposedly non-lethal, which in fact can destroy limbs or cause horrible injuries like loss of an eye, just by pulling a trigger, are unsuitable for the control of public protest. The police personnel who are obliged to use those weapons, need to be considered, as much as anyone likely to be injured by them.
Stella! No…I don’t speak French like a native! I guess a better q to ask might be…,“do you speak English”!
What about the weapons used by the other side? Metal pétanque balls, baseball bats, hammers, bricks… they cause injuries too, but you haven’t mentioned these?
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morning, you strike me as someone who needs to see something for yourself. So I’d suggest you go to one of the protests. Maybe start off at a roundabout before progressing to a major city demonstration? Will it be a safe activity, probably not.
Indeed, as @anon7138442 says - how much have you seen of the GJs first hand? I had rather too much experience of them towards the end of last year so I kind of assume that everyone else has too, but it’s possible that you may not have.
Personally I found it uncomfortable. The atmosphere at roundabouts and road blocks is a kind of superficial bonhomie, GJs cracking jokes with each other and with the motorists and handing round chocolates etc, but you can’t help but sense menace not far below the surface and you get the distinct feeling that you wouldn’t have to scratch very deep for things to turn nasty. I did witness a couple of incidents where motorists simply got impatient and tried to force their way through and the GJs kicked off. One incident the police were called and the GJs refused to let anyone through until they arrived, which meant motorists were held up for over half an hour (it was already the long delay that had caused a motorist to lose patience in the first place), tempers were fraying all round and I really didn’t want to be there.
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Ironduke, thank you, I have already written about my interest in, and some small. experience of managing hostility, and the possible ways to consider how best to protect myself, and others (including security personnel). in hostile crowd situations. Roundabout demos have been local. No violence or bad feeling apparent, no unpleasantness at all from anyone…people are sympathetic to causes less than “sides”… but Im 30kms outside the capital. As I wrote, yes, I would be very interested to go to a demo but not to demonstrate anything, just as an observer.