Since November 17 the gilets jaunes movement has been spreading across France. Protesters from all around the country are demanding fairer taxes, wealth redistribution, and more direct democracy, with demonstrations in multiple cities every Saturday. According to polls, the movement is supported by a majority of the population.

So far, the government’s response to all this has essentially been repressive,  More than 1,700 people have been injured, of which at least eighty-two are seriously hurt, and ten fatalities have been confirmed since the beginning of the movement. (A constantly updated list can be found here).

The deaths mainly owed to road accidents, where angry drivers, blocked in their cars, drove over protesters. But one was caused by the use of police weapons: an eighty-year-old woman in Marseille was closing the shutters of her apartment when a tear-gas grenade hit her in the face. As of January 8, 5,339 people had been arrested, of which 1,234 were released with no further action. The following Saturday (January 12) eighty thousand police officers were deployed against fifty thousand protesters (official numbers).