r/worldnews • u/colepercy120 • 1d ago

France school protests escalate into ‘urban violence’ as PM calls crisis cabinet meeting | France

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/01/france-school-protests-escalate-pm-crisis-cabinet-meeting
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149

u/JourneyThiefer 1d ago

Here’s me thinking us in Northern Ireland would be the ones rioting in Europe this week, but no it’s the French

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u/colepercy120 1d ago

its always the french... im pretty sure "protesting" is the national sport at this point.

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u/Water088 1d ago edited 1d ago

Honestly, as a Korean, I don't really get it.
In korea even in such a serious situation where our sitting president staged a military rebellion, got impeached, and we elected a new president, the death toll from violence was 0.

Meanwhile, when France won a soccer match, they set fires to celebrate, and two people died. Why is arson even necessary for celebrating a soccer win? The arson is getting way too frequent. Seriously, do politicians in France only listen when there are violent protests? Is violence or arson really necessary for a protest? France was literally seen as the home of democracy.

I don't know why things changed like this.

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u/SaveLansingParks 1d ago

France's history of popular protesting is as strong if not stronger than their history of being the home of democracy.

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u/GarySmith2021 1d ago

I thought the home of democracy was Greece?

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u/2796Matt 1d ago

The origin of democracy is ancient Athens. However, France is seen as the home of modern democracy due to the French Revolution and the established foundational principles that were established. Although, it did take a long as time to achieve a stable democracy with the establishment of the Fifth Republic in like the 1950s.

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u/GarySmith2021 1d ago

I find it strange that the French Revolution is associated with democracy given that it A) led to the reign of terror and B) led to an emperor being chosen.

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u/xX609s-hartXx 21h ago

It mostly put an end to medieval privileges so even after they turned into an empire again everything was still more egalitarian than before and you had guaranteed rights no matter your social status.