Riots

Unfortunately it seems impossible not to write this post.
There is a Lycee in the road that I live and over the last few days they have been 'striking'. They are answering a call from the unions asking them to strike against the pension reforms. I don't want to get political in a blog that is supposed to be about the lighter side of life but the pension reforms and the strikes and manifestations are big news here.

Last week the girls from work went on strike, leaving just 3 of us working and a whole lot of parents resigned to looking for alternative childcare for the day.
When asked by my colleagues why I was not striking, I tried to explain that I have 19 years of pension rights tied up in the UK that I will no be able to access until I'm 67, so even if I stay in France and retire at 60, I will only be able to claim what I have earnt in France, which will not equate to full pension. The whole idea of contributing to your pension plan was also an alien concept. In fact amongst my friends the strikes are only getting the support of the French, as most other nationalities are already having to work beyond 62 before they can retire. It has sparked some interesting debates on facebook and in the bars.

Calling out the students seems to be a desperate effort by the unions who have seen dwindling support for the strikes over the last few months. While most people will only strike on the day called by the unions (in order not to lose too much pay) the students have the luxury of striking as often as they want - though the realization that they are jeopardizing their own education and therefore (in exam obsessed France) the chances of going on to getting a good degree and a job and therefore more pension, seems to be lost on them.
The local students first went on strike last Tuesday, this involved a group of between 70/100 standing outside the school and shouting, trying to intimidate those in the school. Over the days it has gradually got more violent. It started with the bins being kicked down the street, then setting light to them. Then the bottle banks were upturned and rolled down the street. This continues till about 10am each morning, then they all head down to Place Bellecour and set light to more bins there.

Yesterday it turned nasty and the riots began in Lyon. It started with the students outside my apartment turning over cars and setting light to them as well as smashing the windscreens of others. Eventually the riot police arrived, to the obvious relief of the 4 or so Police Municipal and the crowd dispersed to Bellecour, setting light to another car on the way, as well as breaking shop windows and more windscreens. I have found footage of the incidents in my street on Youtube and the students are complaining that the wrong school was named in the news reports??
Today the riot police were waiting for them at 9am so not much happened outside here, but the students at the neighbouring Lycee set light to cars instead. Then the town centre turned into a war zone.

I had hoped that the manifestations of the striking unions - which are normally peaceful, would encourage better behaviour in the students. Unfortunately this was not so and I have looked on with horror at the scenes of devastation from central Lyon, tear gas, riot shields, looting, burning cars. What is happening to this beautiful city in the name of pension reforms?

Students - you have the right to strike but not to vandalise other people's property. Having, literally seen this develop from the very start, I can say that this is not the 'spirit of 68 revisited' as quoted by some of the foreign media. It is sheer bloody minded machoism of teenage youth.