Goodness I admire the French. I was in Paris during the 2018(?) yellow vest protest. Their march ended in the square outside the place I was staying. All very spirited but peaceful. They were essentially escorted by police (I don’t know if they informed them ahead of time of the route). Every fifth or so officer was armed with a UMP (for counter terrorism reasons maybe?), most wearing partial riot gear.

After gathering in the square and doing some speeches, the march had largely ended and protestors milled around. Riot police were like “righto, cyas” hopped in their transport vans and left. Was fucking unreal. Protestors waved them off (though I’m sure some were jeering) and some of the cops were waving back from one of the vans lmao. “Same time next week?”.

Was out and about when new years hit and everyone was walking/riding about, some drunk, all wishing each other bonne année. Was an awesome experience.