The French Protests, Explained
Context behind the footage flooding your feed right now
The French Protests, Explained
Context behind the footage flooding your feed right now
shit you should care about
Oct 18, 2026
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Over the weekend, you probably saw footage from France.
If you follow young people or left-leaning creators, you would have seen hundreds of thousands of people marching peacefully through French cities, teenagers singing the Marseillaise, someone draping a yellow vest over Marianne (the great stone statue of the French Republic at Place de la République) and crowds singing ‘The Hanging Tree.”
If you follow news accounts, you probably saw burning cars, smashed storefronts, and masked figures hurling paving stones at riot police.
If you follow nobody in particular, you probably saw a fifteen-second clip with no context and scrolled on.
As someone who fits into both of those top categories, let me give you the context ◡̈
Where did this all start?
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