History to Macron: French Protesters Always Win
A protester gestures in front of a burning vehicle during a demonstration against rising oil prices and living costs in Paris on Dec. 1.
Photographer: Geoffroy van der Hasselt/AFP via Getty Images
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France is accustomed to violent protests. After all, the nation’s identity was formed by the 1789 revolution.
So the Yellow Vests demonstrations and riots are all too familiar to today’s French people. They are the fifth of a series of major public uprisings in the past half-century that have helped shape the nation as it is today.