Along the streets of Saint Denis, the sting of tear gas has gone.
asserted
sting → go → gas
The twisted carcases of giant rubbish bins set ablaze and propelled towards lines of police, and the remnants of the discharged fireworks used as missiles, will take longer to clear.
asserted
carcases → set → missiles
After hate-filled violent protests erupted at schools in this impoverished Paris suburb and in cities across France, peace of a sort yesterday, temporarily at least, returned.
asserted
peace → fill → sort
It came at a price, with more than 400 schools closed and students ordered to attend remote lessons last seen during the Covid pandemic.
asserted
students → come → pandemic
Even in a country where revolution and the right to protest are baked into cultural attitudes, the level of violence has been shocking.
asserted
level → protest → violence
In the southern city of Marseilles a head teacher was doused in petrol as he tried to prevent arsonists setting fire to his school.
asserted
arsonists → douse → school
In Lille, northern France, a headmaster was struck in the ear by a firework.
asserted
headmaster → strike → firework
Another school employee was hit by a firework to his leg.
asserted
employee → hit → leg
On Thursday alone, 305 gendarmes were injured, including a young woman officer fleeing from a masked mob who tripped and attacked her as she fell.
asserted
she → injure → her
School premises have been burned to the ground and fire engines vandalised to prevent them dealing with blazes.
asserted
them → burn → blazes
TV footage showed a fireman engulfed in flames after an aerosol can exploded outside a school in Bordeaux.
asserted
can → show → Bordeaux
One French outlet claimed that fireworks and other missiles were hurled at police, along with hydrochloric acid.
asserted
fireworks → claim → acid
Footage online appeared to show one youth holding a lighter in front of an aerosol and spraying it at a woman as a makeshift flamethrower.
asserted
youth → appear → flamethrower
Intelligence officers say electric scooters were being used to ferry fireworks between schools and help suspects escape police.
asserted
suspects → say → police
Demonstrators put rubbish bins into a fire as protesting students carry out blockading action near place de la Nation, in Paris
French police officers operate in the foreground as demonstrators stand amid tear gas during student protests near the Kerichen high school in Brest, western France, on October 2
Clashes erupted nationwide between French high school students and police in an escalating protest movement demanding better conditions in education
Films of the running battles between riot police and students have fuelled an anger which has gripped the country.
asserted
which → put → country
Many are furious at the mindlessness of it all and the failure of authorities to get a grip.
asserted
Many → get → grip
Much of that fury has been directed at Emmanuel Macron, France's lame-duck president whose final months at the Elysee Palace have been plagued by rows over budget cuts and austerity.
asserted
months → direct → cuts
Video online showed a frightened-looking teenage girl being half-dragged in a chokehold by a burly policeman.
asserted
girl → show → policeman
Another appeared to show a baton round being discharged at almost point-blank range at a masked youth.
asserted
round → appear → youth
It has since been claimed the boy suffered a broken jaw and shattered teeth.
asserted
boy → claim → jaw
At least three internal police investigations are under way, while prosecutors claim the youth had struck a policewoman beforehand.
uncertain
youth → claim → policewoman
Protesters also claim that a 'secondary school student' lost an eye after being hit by a projectile.
uncertain
student → claim → projectile
But all this should be measured by the savagery officers and others have faced.
asserted
officers → measure → savagery
There were almost 2,000 arrests on Thursday when students blockaded school buildings in more than 900 protests.
asserted
students → be → protests
A teacher at a school near Orleans, south of Paris, was punched by a teenager not from his school, while professors at two lycees in Rennes, Brittany, had their cars vandalised.
asserted
cars → punch → Rennes
A total of 284 people were injured, including one young protester who lost the use of part of his hand after apparently mishandling a firework.
asserted
who → injure → firework
The demonstrations have spilled beyond schools into town and city centres.
asserted
demonstrations → spill → centres
Marseille's public transport network suspended all services after drivers were attacked and buses burnt.
asserted
buses → suspend → services
Strasbourg and Grenoble took similar measures.
asserted
Strasbourg → take → measures
In the Paris region, troubles have erupted even in usually quiet suburbs such as Vanves, where youths in hoods and masks gathered on a roundabout to throw firecrackers at police vehicles.
asserted
youths → erupt → vehicles
French citizens horrified by this spreading uprising have taken to social media claiming the country is losing its unifying culture.
asserted
country → horrify → culture
Others say the fact that many protests erupted in poor quarters, traditionally where immigrants are housed, prove that France is paying the price for open borders.
asserted
France → say → borders
Damage to schools over the past days is estimated at £850,000.
asserted
Damage → estimate → 850,000
Eric Ciotti, the right-wing mayor of Nice has called for the benefits of parents of violent school protesters to be withdrawn.
asserted
benefits → call → protesters
Students pose before burning trash as highschool students demonstrate countrywide over what they denounce as poor learning conditions, near the Lycee Deodat high school in Toulouse, south-western France
A student kicks a burning bin as students for a blockade at the Louis Pasteur middle school, in Strasbourg
A masked student is seen as flames rise from burning barricades in Nancy, France
A demonstrator jumps over a fire during student protests in Saint-Pierre, on the French overseas island of La Reunion
What is clear is that what began as teenage complaints over what they resent about school has been escalated by far-left activists.
asserted
they → pose → activists
The finger of blame is being pointed at the populist leftist party, France Unbowed, which the government has accused of whipping up disorder, describing it as an 'organised manoeuvre'.
asserted
government → point → manoeuvre
Its leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, who is expected to face right-wing firebrand Marine Le Pen in a runoff for next year's presidential election, denied this, saying protests were 'self-organised'.
To win next April the hard left will need the support of the young and many of those involved in this week's clashes will be eligible to vote for the first time.
Inconveniently, the mayor of St Denis, Bally Bagayoko, a member of a coalition of the Communist and France Unbowed parties, joined one of the school blockades and described the protest as 'completely legitimate'.
asserted
mayor → expect → protest
He was carried shoulder high by pupils singing La Marseillaise, the French national anthem.
asserted
He → carry → Marseillaise
Back-to-school protests are an annual French ritual, often involving union-led strikes over pay, staffing and class sizes.
asserted
protests → involve → pay
But what began as frankly petty complaints about restrictions on mobile phone use, long queues for canteens, and inadequate supplies such as toilet paper, dramatically changed.
asserted
began → begin → paper
…and 21 more, not listed.
The Aporia
