Current Events: Who are the Extreme Right?

Yesterday, all was calm in Place Bellecour.  Calm, peaceful... quiet.  It seemed as if everything was returning to normal- but suddenly the helicopter began circling overhead again.  Another riot?  More breakers in the street?

Upon research it turns out that a group of 150 of what are considered the 'Extreme Right' in France gathered at Place Bellecour.  Intent?  To destroy, mar and 'reprends la ville'.  The destruction from the 'casseurs' caused an uproar in their minds and they decided to gather and march down the street proclaiming their anger as French citizens.

The Extreme Right are considered close to Facist in France, are typically (and carefully) prejudice against any outsiders moving into France; they tend to express their ethnocentrism with pride.  Resembling a very modest version of the Tea Party in America- they are often in their own world and never come out to face opposition.

Both moving and disconcerting, this group marched from Bellecour to Place Ampère singing the 'Marseillaise (French Anthem)' and shouting, 'Les lyonnais avec les commerçants' or 'The Lyonnais with the store owners'.  The police descended back into the streets, blocking path after path towards the Place Ampère, simply to protect the group from and backlash of their actions.

Afraid of having a form of civil war in the streets of Lyon, the Police blocked the Extreme Right and forced them onto buses to transport them safely to a secure area.  There was no gas (thankfully) this time, but the tensions were high.  People in the crowd were debating with each other, we overheard one conversation...

Man 1:  This is ridiculous, this type of racism shouldn't exist.
Man 2:  Are you kidding?  These people don't even belong in France, they aren't even French!
Man 1:  Not French?  Sir I am French.  I was born in France.  My mother was not, but I was, so I am French.
Man 2:  This would never happen if we didn't have so many immigrants running the street.

Later a conversation between a Policeman and an observer...

Observer:  This is crazy, the Police are protecting them and taking them home even though they have caused a disruption?
Policeman:  You think we are a replacement for TCL?  We're not taking them home.
Observer:  Well where are you going to take them then?
Policeman:  Read tomorrow's news and you'll see.
Teenager:  Officer, I think it's ridiculous all this stuff, it's crazy!
Policeman (to teen):  You talk too much.

 That was the end of THAT conversation.  The funniest thing was that the observer was sipping a beer while discussing this.  I was tempted to snap a picture, but in reality that would have been dumb.

Mixed emotions in France right now, we all feel a little anger towards the 'breakers' but it's important not to generalize and assume a certain group did it.  In any riot or hostile situation in any country there will always be those types of people who will take the opportunity to use the chaos to gain something.. looting or not.

Here's the video of the event we captured from yesterday:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtMrnusuiV8

Be careful out there...

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Story Time: Involved in a Riot

I live next to Place Bellecour in Lyon, and yesterday was one of those days that I look back and say to myself, self, did that actually happen?

The day started normal, coffee and some oatmeal, watching some news.  My school was closed from the foreboding warnings of manifestations; apparently the previous manifestation in 2005 caused enough damage to take the warning seriously and stop the courses for the day.

Brian and I watched images flicked on television of riots, burning cars- and the ticker under the news; "URGENCE:  Incedencie à Place Bellecour en Lyon"

Holy Crap.  Instantly we got dressed and wandered outside- this was around 12:40pm mind you- and nothing much was happening.  The rioters were surrounding the police, pelting them with rocks.

Right outside our door, 12:45pm...

We decided to go ahead and get Brian to work.  I sat around and tried to study, as the sirens and the helicopters passed.  I wandered to my little market in the 7ème... and as I began my trek back on Velo'v I saw a black plume of smoke floating from the sky... I didn't have my camera but I snapped a photo with my Blackberry to send to Twitter...
 
Not very good quality, but the black smoke in the picture represents a car burning down the street.

I went home, marched upstairs and locked my doors.

Around 4:30 pm, Brian returned home and was very excited.  He told me there was some "Crazy shit" going on outside, and that "Rue Victor Hugo was absolutely massacred".  I threw on my shoes, my jacket and ran out the door with him.  We managed to snap these photos of the damage...

 







A lot of broken glass and cell phone cameras.  It was like walking into a war zone.  It only got worse when we returned to Place Bellecour to film some of the action... as the Police started gathering we realized it's because they planned to 'Gas Bomb' the entire square, which meant that they were going to pelt everything in sight with gas to get everyone out of the square.  We were in the square and yes, we got gassed.  What does it feel like?  It feels like someone took jalapeno peppers and made it into dust and blew it all over my face.  My eyes teared up, my throat burned, I couldn't breath... we ran.

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We decided then it was time to head home... but the street we were on was blocked by the Police..

No one could pass. We had to walk around the block towards the Quai to get to home.. and then we saw this outside of our door...

Yes, that's a trashcan in the fountain...

Leftover Gas Pellet... see the scorch marks?

Standing on Rue des Marronniers- incredibly it's locked up.. empty..

Today is a new day.. but what a clean up the city of Lyon is gonna have to do. I've been hearing it was one of the worst riots in a long time- all we can do is wait. Gas is running out around France due to the gas workers on strike, SNCF is running part time, same. Public transport is unreliable. Schools are closing.

It's truly an incredible time to live in France.. and I don't regret it one bit. I'll keep you posted if anything new happens, until then, here's the video I made showing the events of October 19, 2010 in Lyon.

Video of October 19 2010 in Lyon