France is in chaos .

[Lockdoctor 10]

17 minutes ago, Flanker7 said:

The title of this tread is a sweeping generalisation and dosen't dosen't stand up to the briefest examination.

Like many of the headlines in several of our papers and used in many election and referendum .campaigns.

 

Sweeping Generalisations are always wrong        ;0)

The title of this thread is very  accurate  considering a French  government spokesperson said a state of emergency could be imposed to tackle the unrest and President Macron is chairing an urgent security meeting.  No martial law yet in France but that must be an option being considered by the French authorities, if the rioting and civil unrest continues for much longer.

[Top Cats Hat 10]

2 minutes ago, Lockdoctor said:

The title of this thread is very  accurate  considering a French  government spokesperson said a state of emergency could be imposed 

That is nonsense!

 

Of course it is a sweeping generalisation. The unrest involves 0.0015% of the French population in an area equal to 0.0008% of France. The other 99.99991% of France is presumably guggling red wine, eating baguettes and going to work as normal.

 

The French government are trying to use a sweeping generalisation to impose a state of emergency. That doesn't then make that sweeping generalisation suddenly become true!

[tzijlstra 11]

I was regularly in Greece when the papers here were full of 'all-out warfare' and 'massive breakdown of society'. I even walked through one of these 'warzones (Syntagma Square, Athens). Basically the same quality reporters that declare Rotherham a 'no-go islamic state'. ie. Nonsense.

 

Are people protesting and being stupid? Yes. Is the whole country about to break down? No.

[RollingJ 2,042]

tzijlstra - we need a 'like' button on this forum. I don't always agree with your posts, but this is spot on!!👍

[mafya 248]

3 hours ago, Top Cats Hat said:

The French are rioting because diesel is £1.32 per litre.

 

Our diesel is currently £1.37 a litre

I paid  £124.9 a litre for diesel at Costco today...

[RollingJ 2,042]

1 minute ago, mafya said:

I paid  £124.9 a litre for diesel at Costco today...

Do you mean 124.9p/l.mafya?

[Top Cats Hat 10]

2 hours ago, mafya said:

I paid  £124.9 a litre for diesel at Costco today...

????

 

you do know that you need a Costco card to buy diesel at Costco? 

[Longcol 604]

3 hours ago, tzijlstra said:

I was regularly in Greece when the papers here were full of 'all-out warfare' and 'massive breakdown of society'. I even walked through one of these 'warzones (Syntagma Square, Athens). Basically the same quality reporters that declare Rotherham a 'no-go islamic state'. ie. Nonsense.

 

Are people protesting and being stupid? Yes. Is the whole country about to break down? No.

The "all out warfare" in France has been confined to the Champs Elysee in Paris and the town hall square in Bordeaux.

 

According to all the papers there were far fewer Gilets Jaunes out and about this Saturday - numbers way down on weeks one and two (which was down a fair bit on week one). Next to nothing in our neck of the woods - lots of drivers displaying GJ's on their dashboard but no blockages - about 10 folk handing out leaflets on the roundabout going into town the first Saturday.

 

Crucially for Macron, of the two main groups who can fairly easily bring the country to a standstill, the lorry drivers union aren't involved, and participation by farmers has been pretty much non existent.

[L00b 441]

I drove over for a family visit this weekend, like every other weekend. Just came back tonight. Never saw a single picket in 120 miles, either way.

 

I saw one demo. By chance, as if I'd gone into town 5 mins earlier or later I'd have missed it.

 

Couple of farm tractors with trailers and hi-vis jacketed protesters on them, coming down the street and making a bit of noise with foghorns and hooters. A police panda on blues and twos was opening the way. Very civilised, you would nearly have thought it was part of St Nicholas festivities.

 

Call that a protest? Bless!

 

I still remember the (local, North East France) miners' strikes in late 80s/early 90s. Full-on riots around the prefectures, with hundreds of riot police (all bricking themselves). I used to find spent gas grenade canisters on our (3rd storey) balcony after the festivities died down. Now you were talking.

 

But this is "chaos" across the whole country? LOL! Kids burn more cars in 'hard' suburbs on New Year's Eve every year.

 

This is much ado, about not a lot. But it makes for good copy.

 

Diesel here is €1.13. And government-set, in real-time: same price at any petrol station or supermarket anywhere in the country, it goes up and down by a couple of cents every week or so. Probably why there are so few hi-vis protesters across the border: they cross it to come here and fill up at local prices. Have done for decades.

Edited December 2, 2018 by L00b

[mafya 248]

4 hours ago, RollingJ said:

Do you mean 124.9p/l.mafya?

Yes sorry I meant £1.24.9 pence per litre 🤭

 

1 hour ago, Top Cats Hat said:

????

 

you do know that you need a Costco card to buy diesel at Costco? 

Of course I know that as I have got a Costco card myself. 😆

[Top Cats Hat 10]

Who sells the most petrol and diesel in a country?

 

Motorway service stations of course.

 

So where do you find the ceapest petrol and diesel?

 

Well in motorway service stations, of course.

 

Correct, except in the UK where it is 10-15p a litre more than on the high street.

 

We are being mugged off because we never complain, we just grumble  and put up with it! 

[Lockdoctor 10]

8 hours ago, L00b said:

I drove over for a family visit this weekend, like every other weekend. Just came back tonight. Never saw a single picket in 120 miles, either way.

 

I saw one demo. By chance, as if I'd gone into town 5 mins earlier or later I'd have missed it.

 

Couple of farm tractors with trailers and hi-vis jacketed protesters on them, coming down the street and making a bit of noise with foghorns and hooters. A police panda on blues and twos was opening the way. Very civilised, you would nearly have thought it was part of St Nicholas festivities.

 

Call that a protest? Bless!

 

I still remember the (local, North East France) miners' strikes in late 80s/early 90s. Full-on riots around the prefectures, with hundreds of riot police (all bricking themselves). I used to find spent gas grenade canisters on our (3rd storey) balcony after the festivities died down. Now you were talking.

 

But this is "chaos" across the whole country? LOL! Kids burn more cars in 'hard' suburbs on New Year's Eve every year.

 

This is much ado, about not a lot. But it makes for good copy.

 

Diesel here is €1.13. And government-set, in real-time: same price at any petrol station or supermarket anywhere in the country, it goes up and down by a couple of cents every week or so. Probably why there are so few hi-vis protesters across the border: they cross it to come here and fill up at local prices. Have done for decades.

In our country if three people had died during protests and famous historic monuments were being  attacked and vandalised then it would be a very serous situation for our people. I guess human life must be considered cheap in France.