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Every generation or so the course of French democracy is determined on the streets.
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course → publish → streets
Be in no doubt that just happened again at the weekend.
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that → happen → weekend
Or that, though it was provoked by the hard-Left, it is the hard-Right that will benefit.
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that → provoke → Left
Those looking in from afar might not have grasped the scale or ferocity of what happened.
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what → look → scale
The riots – in places bordering on urban warfare – which erupted across the country from late Saturday afternoon onwards were the worst for a very long time.
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which → border → time
Protests by high-school students complaining about class sizes, a teacher shortage and crumbling schools have been going on for a month, sometimes involving sporadic violence.
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Protests → complain → violence
In recent days they've been joined by a resurgence of the 'yellow vests' – ordinary provincial French folk struggling with rising prices to make ends meet, who first came to prominence in 2018 protesting about the high price of diesel, which is soaring again along with other costs.
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which → join → costs
Plans were made for the 'jeunes et jaunes' – the young and yellow – to come together on Saturday for marches in every major town and city.
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jaunes → make → town
The day proceeded peacefully enough.
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day → proceed → ?
Young and yellow did indeed march together, joined by teachers, parents, trade unionists — numbering countrywide between 500,000 (police estimate) and 800,000 (organisers estimate).
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organisers → march → 500,000
Until the official protests came to an end and the organisers drifted away.
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organisers → come → end
It was then that far more sinister, violent forces took over.
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forces → take → ?
That often happens at the end of French demonstrations.
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That → happen → demonstrations
Yesterday morning I scanned the front pages of France's main regional Sunday papers (there isn't really a French national press).
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I → scan → papers
Every single one had pictures of buildings going up in flames and thugs on the rampage, with the word 'chaos' in banner headlines some added another word – 'insurrection'.
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some → have → word
The riots across France which began on Saturday afternoon were the worst for a very long time, warns Andrew Neil (Pictured: Limoges town hall ablaze)
Although the official protests started out peacefully, violent forces took over as soon as the organisers went away, with thugs on the rampage
The heart of Paris, from the Champs-Elysees to the Bastille, was like a war zone.
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heart → begin → zone
Widespread looting was the worst anybody could remember.
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anybody → remember → ?
Masked youths, nearly all clad in black, many draped in keffiyehs, emerged from shops with bags stuffed with clothes, sneakers and smart phones.
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many → clothe → clothes
The police simply couldn't cope.
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police → cope → ?
'There was a level of violence I believe we have never seen before,' said the capital's shaken deputy mayor.
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mayor → be → violence
It was worse in Marseille, France's second city, where the police were forced to retreat and effectively lost control of the city centre for several hours.
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police → force → hours
The main drag in Lyon, France's elegant third city and gastronomic capital, was devastated by looters – windows smashed, shelves emptied, debris everywhere.
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shelves → devastate → looters
The tourist office was set on fire and left to burn down – because masked thugs wouldn't let firefighters near it.
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firefighters → set → it
All the city's useless Green mayor could muster were platitudes about it all being 'unacceptable'.
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it → muster → ?
No major urban centre escaped the unrest.
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centre → escape → unrest
From Nice in the south to Lille in the north-east, from Bordeaux in the west to Grenoble in the south-east, France was gripped by an orgy of violence, arson, rampage, theft and destruction.
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France → grip → violence
Even the city halls of Marseille and Lille were invaded and badly vandalised.
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halls → invade → Marseille
This matters in France, where elected mayors have real power and the city or town hall – the hotel de ville – is regarded as a local symbol of republican democracy in action.
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city → matter → action
Which makes the destruction of the town hall in Limoges perhaps the weekend's worst, most totemic atrocity of all.
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destruction → make → all
An imposing neo-Renaissance building completed in 1883 – the glory of a charming town sitting between Paris and Bordeaux – it boasted a beautiful facade topped by a belfry, the inside dominated by a gloriously grand ceremonial staircase.
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inside → complete → staircase
It is now, as I write, a smoking ruin.
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I → write → ?
The anger of the country is palpable – and it has quickly dawned on most folk that none of this anarchy was spontaneous.
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none → dawn → anarchy
It was organised by hard-Left activists intent on exploiting legitimate protest to sow mayhem, fanned by the henchmen of Jean-Luc Melenchon, who combines the Leftist fantasies of Jeremy Corbyn with the rabble-rousing of a veteran charlatan – which makes him much more dangerous.
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him → organise → charlatan
These far-Left extremists were joined by young criminal gangs from the 'banlieues', the miserable suburbs which now ring most French towns and cities, where migrant families have settled, often in some squalor and with little hope of escape.
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families → join → escape
Since both groups are young, usually dress in black and hide behind masks or balaclavas, it is not easy to differentiate between them, and there
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it → dress → them
But together they make a formidable force for urban unrest.
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they → make → unrest
He blamed 'far-Left groups' for 'organised acts of violence' and 'criminals' who 'joined in to loot and destroy'.
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who → blame → violence
The riots were organised by hard-Left activists intent on exploiting legitimate protest to sow mayhem, fanned by the henchmen of Jean-Luc Melenchon, writes our columnist
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columnist → organise → Melenchon
No matter what Right-wing Marine Le Pen is up against in next spring's elections, every poll shows her winning - especially if her main opponent is the Corbyn-like charlatan Melenchon
The French expect the state to be omnipresent in their lives.
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state → show → lives
Yet the country no longer generates the wealth required to finance what the French want the state to do for them.
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state → generate → them
…and 24 more, not listed.
The Aporia
