Liberty, equality, tear gas: no nation does mass protests quite like France

When the French fight high fuel taxes, they don yellow vests and march. When angry farmers want better pay, hundreds of them drive tractors down the Champs-Elysees. And when museum workers want better tourist management, they strike and shut down the Louvre. Passionate public protest is as French as “La Marseillaise”, the 1792 anthem that enshrines the collective duty to fight tyranny in the country’s national identity. But this month, the most violent demonstrations in years – and tough...