France is learning the hard way what happens when the socialist bill comes due
"Is Paris Burning?"The title of that 1960s movie came from a message Adolf Hitler sent to his commanding general in Paris in August 1944.He wanted Paris to burn if he couldn’t keep it.Today, the call isn’t coming from the Führerbunker; it’s from inside the house.
It’s not Nazis, but the French — and quasi-French — burning Paris and other French cities.The Louvre museum in Paris, home to the Mona Lisa, closed Monday "due to a student social movement." That’s one way to describe the utter chaos overtaking French cities.PHOTOS SHOW AFTERMATH OF RIOTS AS MASKED GROUPS CLASH WITH POLICE ACROSS FRANCEIn Limoges, rioters set fire to the town hall, destroying its iconic tower.In Marseille, they broke into city hall and vandalized the interior.
In Paris, a video circulating online appeared to show young thugs shouting, "Wallah! Kill her!" and "Dirty whore!" [my translation] at a policewoman they chased and threw to the ground — all while trashing property and assaulting people on the streets.What’s happening in France is both familiar and new.It’s familiar in that mass protests are endemic to France.
They happen every few years when a feckless government tries to balance the books by reforming France’s ruinously generous public benefits.What’s new is the addition of foreign influence and the scale of the violence.FRENCH SCHOOL RIOTS DEEPEN AS EXPERTS POINT TO FAR-LEFT ALLIANCE FUELING ‘BROADER CONFRONTATION’The high-schoolers who kicked off this round of protests are angry about class sizes, dilapidated schools, and access to college.
Retirees who joined them say state pensions aren’t enough to live on.Everyone complains about the high cost of living.
They all want more state spending to cure their ills.French protests often turn violent.Torched cars, vandalized property, and looting are common.
What has added fuel to the fire this time is the "Casseurs" (breakers), looters, and violent thugs going beyond what was tacitly tolerated in the...