Just got back from Limoges (Leroy Merlin), it’s normally about 90 minutes each way for me. Looks like the JG are camped out on the A20/ring road junction , pallet and tarp shanty town…nothing on the way there, bonfires alight, but no delays on the way back.
I spent some time on Sunday watching the ‘we are change’ livestream…Luke is American (polish) and is a totally independent reporter…
The vast majority of the protesters were peaceful…the police were extremely aggressive and the unarmed protesters were bombarded with tear gas and fired at indiscriminately with rubber bullets…they are angry at the state owned media for not telling the truth…
This is a 15 minute video…
What I also find really disturbing was the presence of the EU army…
As far as I was aware there is no EU army is there? The vehicles in this clip clearly say Gendarmarie. Site looks a bit suspect to me as well. Have a good look at it and Google Punch news.
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What I find disturbing is this clip …
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Yes I saw that too… x 
I don’t know Sue…but whoever paid for that sort of equipment…whether France or the EU…or both…is it really ever ok that a president can order it to be used against unarmed civilians…???
Probably not but to spread false news like “EU Army” is not good and as I said the actual site doesn’t look very trustworthy
I would have been very happy for you to teach my children.
The suffragettes used a certain amount of violence, people forget that.
What EU army?
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If you watch and listen to the whole clip, the person in the wheelchair is spoiling for a fight, one gendarme gets too close and the CO (IMO) does a good job of diffusing the situation.
I don’t know Cat…just lots of speculation around the world about those vehicles…
My own feeling is that it can’t ever be right to deploy them against your own unarmed people…
Bit like teargas…banned for use in warfare but ok for “crowd control”…
Sorry but I disagree, I have seen a second version that shows how 4 gendarmes physically lifted this man and his wheelchair to put him on the side of the road. You can understand that they might want him off the road for safety reasons but there is no excuse for what happens afterwards.
He is not spoiling for a fight, he is calling out to be careful how he is manipulated, if you lok then you can see that parts of his wheelchair have been broken away.
Really do you suppose that it takes umpteen fit heavily armed young men to ‘subdue’ someone who is physically handicapped.
I personally find the whole thing sickening, including that the ‘boss’ of the gendarmes had to call off his pack !
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Total nonsense, there is no EU army. The Gendarmerie is historically a military organisation. They have armoured cars and all the other bells and whistles you might expect.
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I agree in the main with Ann’s assessment of the situation in that there was no malevolence in this situation, the wheelchair was accidentally tipped over, a fairly predictable “too many cooks” scenario on uneven ground, and the gendarmes acted with good intention by lifting it off the carriageway. Ann knows about wheelchairs and their occupants. It’s horrible to be in a wheelchair, every accidental jolt or knock feels as if it was personally intended. Suppressing rage takes it out of the user!
No-one acted with ill intent IMO, but there was lots of frustrated effort and the young disabled chap must have felt helpless and like a parcel rather than a man.
An unfortunately confused situation, but nothing seemed to me uncivilised or out of control under the circumstances. None of the gendarmes showed anger, but one looked a bit ‘misunderstood’, as if knowing he had slightly over-reacted to the disabled man’s angry protests.
The gendarmerie have a difficult job to do, and one suspects that there is an established esprit de corps that operates to rein in individuals who occasionally overstep the mark, and without throwing the baby away with the bathwater. 
The Miners’ Strike was unofficial and Orgreave was a deliberate attempt to face down the police.
The reaction was only to be expected.
Taking part in and defending such provocative actions does not give me confidence in the ability of teachers to keep their political viewpoints to themselves.
The Nottinghamshire miners chose not to join in this unofficial strike and the arrogance and stupidity of Arthur Scargill leading the Yorkshire Miners into an illegal strike deserved everything it got.
‘That sort of equipment’ is standard in all countries to control riots.
There is no EU Army, which you must know if you follow the news. Macron is trying hard to interest the EU into creating one.
Whether it is right to have a gendarmerie based as a military force to control a civilian population is another question.
Personally, I find it offensive and I recognise its historical roots, but I wish it could be changed.
So called tear gas is carried by operational police officers in the UK as a less dangerous alternative to i.e. baton or taser
I can sort of understand an armed response when put into a situation say where someone with a gun is threatening to kill him self and his family…I’ve seen the armed response in uk…I’ve called the armed response in uk when real bullets…not rubber ones…were being fired over my garden…
But this is not the case…the only ones armed with guns firing rubber bullets and armed with tear gas and in full riot gear…are the police…
Yes it is offensive…
The police are there to maintain order and protect life and property.
They certainly need some force to do that and I didn’t see them tearing up the streets or setting fire to cars.
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