The French protests are as French as they possibly could be

Sacre bleu: the French are at it again. This time they’re taking to the streets over pensions after President Emmanuel Macron announced plans to raise France’s retirement age from sixty-two to sixty-four. If there’s one thing Cockburn respects the French for, it’s starting a damn good riot. 

And these protests are wonderfully, aesthetically French. Let Cockburn set the scene. Thousands have gathered at places such as Place d’Italie, while setting trash cans on fire and burning an effigy of Macron while chanting things like “Macron, resign!” and “The streets are ours!” All this is happening amid the putrid stench of decomposing food after sanitation workers went on strike at the start of the year. 

And this isn’t just small collections of garbage: we’re talking trash bags piled high throughout the streets that have transformed into a new tourist attraction. Cockburn isn’t joking — social media is swamped with people taking selfies with the chaos.

Some have even called it the “New Yorkification of Paris.” They probably aren’t Parisians. The Parisians are the ones lighting their Gitanes off the burning waste and getting on with life as usual. 

Celia Walden, Piers Morgan’s wife, summed up the chaos on her Instagram Story this weekend. “Paris, city of love, strikes and 10,000 tonnes of rubbish,” she wrote as she took a selfie in front of them.

Taking another snap from above she shows a video of Edith Piaf’s “La Vie en Rose” being blasted through the streets as they’re filled with trash bags. Vive la révolution!