Yellow vests - fuel protest day of action in France

[Earthdweller]

Wow just wow !

French soldiers will be permitted to 'open fire' if lives are threatened by Yellow Vest rioters this weekend, the military governor of Paris said today.

General Bruno Leray's ominous words highlight the growing law and order crisis faced by President Emmanuel Macron as he faces up to the increasingly violent social movement.
It has now been confirmed that the French Army will support some 5,000 police trying to keep order during the 19th Yellow Vest Saturday demonstration in a row in Paris at the weekend.
General Leray told Franceinfo Radio on Friday: 'If their life or that of the people they defend is threatened, they can go up to opening fire.'

General Leray said an unspecified number of soldiers mainly used for anti-terrorism duties would be defending public buildings this Saturday.
'They are subject to the same legal framework as the internal security forces,' he added, while conceding that soldiers have 'different ways of coping' with trouble.

Philippe Capon, of the UNSA police union, said: 'I'm worried about how they will respond in case of attack.'




https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6838623/F...

[Earthdweller]

Vanden Saab said:

BBC finally reporting on the riots, one of their journalists just said that the riots are due to populists wanting simple answers to complex problems. It seems they are going with the Brexit 'everybody who wants change is stupid and doesn't understand' line.
From that Mail link WTAF are they using on their own people now

Mail said:

French security forces used a 'last resort' chemical weapon against them for the first time on Saturday.
Gendarmes confirmed that a 'small amount' of the gas was released close to the Arc de Triomphe.
Video posted online by the independent Taranis news outlet showed the debilitating substance coming out of armoured cars

Wouldn’t the use of a chemical weapon by a state on its citizens be classed as a War Crime ?

[Earthdweller]

Looks like Act 22 has turned violent with it centred on Toulouse

[Earthdweller]

A year later ...

Paris is burning again today

[Earthdweller]

bhstewie said:

B'stard Child said:

His sense of humor has long since been bypassed

We're really comparing Nazi's marching up the Champs-Élysées to the French Police?

My sense of humour is fine but if there's something funny there and I'm missing a "funny joke" it must be a very subtle one.

I don’t find it funny at all.

It’s a very striking pair of images and a rather really sad

In 1940 the French people were under the control of an occupying Army, supported by the French Government of the day

The pictures allude to the French people being under the control of a paramilitary force today in 2019, the difference being they are directed by the French Government

Whilst I’m in no way comparing the Nazi’s to the CRS or Gendarmes

France is today, in many ways, a country under paramilitary control, much as it was in 1940

A divided country with a deeply unpopular Govt trying to enforce its rule on a populace that is resisting

France is without doubt a country in crisis with deep political, social and economic problems and the Govt has taken to the jackboot to control it

The pictures are sobering stark and thought provoking

They are not good images

[Earthdweller]

citizensm1th said:

I would point you to the plans put in place during the 80,s that in the event of a nuclear strike on the UK the police were planned to to be armed and anyone not conforming to the wishes of the regional controller was to be shot. Granted this was a plan for extreme times but as I stated when push really comes to shove the state will always try to ensure its own survival over that of its subjects

That’s a new one on me and I was in the Police in the 80’s!

Every six months we had to go to a day of mandatory “civil defence” training which pretty much comprised watching presentations about how lucky we would be if we were vapourised in the first strike

We didn’t have guns, the only armed patrols were the DPG Ranger units in central London.

Granted each main station had a safe with about a dozen ancient handguns in it and each station had a couple of “authorised shots”

Certainly none of the training I ever got alluded to us all being given guns and being ordered to randomly shoot people

They did have a thing called the “mobile column” where city cops would be sent to a remote army camp to be available to be sent back into the wasteland if Armageddon struck, but that had been abandoned by the 80’s

I do however recall being told during the 90’s that they did have enough handguns to issue one to every operational cop. But what you’d do with a WW2 revolver and no training I’m not so sure

I think most cops would just be as fried as everyone else mind

[Earthdweller]

citizensm1th said:

bloomen said:

A relative lives in France and he made a point that rang true to me.

For all their faults the British police feel like they're ultimately there to protect you. In France and many other European countries the police feel like they're there to ultimately protect the state.

I think that we are one of the few states that claims to police by consent, its not really true though as if it came to it the state will always use the levers of power to control its subjects

The British Police do not have the capacity nor numbers to Police any way other than by consent

Less than 10k public order trained officers and around 4K armed officers

Compared to France over 300k armed and public order trained Police/Gendarmes

The situation is similar across most of Europe

[Earthdweller]

markjmd said:

Earthdweller said:

bhstewie said:

B'stard Child said:

His sense of humor has long since been bypassed

We're really comparing Nazi's marching up the Champs-Élysées to the French Police?

My sense of humour is fine but if there's something funny there and I'm missing a "funny joke" it must be a very subtle one.

I don’t find it funny at all.

It’s a very striking pair of images and a rather really sad

In 1940 the French people were under the control of an occupying Army, supported by the French Government of the day

The pictures allude to the French people being under the control of a paramilitary force today in 2019, the difference being they are directed by the French Government

Whilst I’m in no way comparing the Nazi’s to the CRS or Gendarmes

France is today, in many ways, a country under paramilitary control, much as it was in 1940

A divided country with a deeply unpopular Govt trying to enforce its rule on a populace that is resisting

France is without doubt a country in crisis with deep political, social and economic problems and the Govt has taken to the jackboot to control it

The pictures are sobering stark and thought provoking

They are not good images

You do realize that by making the kind of absurd equivalence that you are here, you're effectively trivializing the sufferring of all European populations who endured Nazi occupation in WWII, not only that of France, and making a mockery of those who genuinely risked their lives (and in many cases gave them up) resisting it into the bargain, right? Or was the nonsense you just spouted merely intended as a jolly good wheeze?

Absolutely not. I specifically said I’m not comparing modern day France with the Nazi’s

The images portray jackboots on the Champs-Elysee 80 years apart

Do you not find it sad that in 2019 Paramilitary soldiers are routinely deployed on the streets of a major European country to maintain order and control ?

[Earthdweller]

citizensm1th said:

Earthdweller said:

Absolutely not. I specifically said I’m not comparing modern day France with the Nazi’s

The images portray jackboots on the Champs-Elysee 80 years apart

Do you not find it sad that in 2019 Paramilitary soldiers are routinely deployed on the streets of a major European country to maintain order and control ?

Routinely deployed in more than one country in Europe on a daily basis, as they have been for decades.

You are of course correct, I apologise but it has just become so routine to me when I visit any European City, to be met with water cannons and paramilitary soldiers by the thousand, dressed as robocops forming barriers to allow people to congregate in and cross the streets unimpeded by vehicles

It’s just the norm in the E.U. in 2019!

[Earthdweller]

citizensm1th said:

The crs are not the police btw

Yes they are ..

they are a unit of the “Police Nationale” the civilian Police Force and not to be confused with the Gendarmerie which are a unit of the French Military

[Earthdweller]

vaud said:

Civil defense was mostly bks. Lots of grand plans, all hinging on (quite low level council workers) heading to a bunker and then to dig mass graves, etc... instead of to their families.

My dad had an allocation in a shelter, but he was always clear that he wasn't going to take it up. Given we lived near a primary strike target it was immaterial anyway.

We often used to joke that if the warning went off we’d blue light it as fast as possible up the M11 to try and outrun the mushroom cloud .

We used to have a “secret nuclear bunker” underneath a police training camp and I went a few times with my Sergeant who was the key holder for it

Was quite surreal powering it up and wandering round it, making a couple of phone and radio calls then closing it down and locking it up again

I did and do still wonder what the designated survivors would have been able to do or whether there’d be anyone left “on top” to do their bidding in any case

As you mentioned I wonder how many would have left their families and children behind or whether they’d have chosen to stay with their families

[Earthdweller]

And still it goes on, yet unreported in the main

Footage from yesterday 11/01/20

https://fbwat.ch/12mlT1D3VAFTGon6

https://youtu.be/6fHr5TI7iuo

Edited by Earthdweller on Sunday 12th January 20:15

[Earthdweller]

Dont like rolls said:

little bearing on the UK ........ummm, one of the Eu leading countries burning every weekend, I would say that is a massive news story myself.

OK, on the Tele/Newspapers.

It makes you wonder how much control the Govt have in France and how much governance is actually taking place

Huge numbers of civil servants, teachers, rail workers etc on strike

Is France functioning property or descending into anarchy ?

[Earthdweller]

And just when you think it couldn’t get any stranger in France ...

Police fighting firefighters!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7938937/F...

https://www.france24.com/en/20200128-french-police...

Edited by Earthdweller on Tuesday 28th January 18:10

[Earthdweller]

https://twitter.com/LauraMK20/status/1222188196466...