| Yes, but they're arguing that those movements were "under control". Meaning nobody knew, nobody cared. When Paris was shut down for 4 days due to student protest for Macron's new labor laws, it lasted on the front page of "Le Monde" for about 3 hours. Agriculture protests ? Not a peep. Taxi protests ? A mention. Public sector strikes ? Mention. Students again ... and again ... and again ? Not much at all. And yet all of these were massive protests. Tens of thousands of people at least. Essentially, there has been protests against Macron's policies with a huge strike every 2 months at least (and every month in the last year). But reading the media you would never know this. And of course, the net result of the censorship is that protestors know: they need to grab international attention ... or just go home. Well the "gilets jaune" have gotten international attention. By massive turnouts, and by violence. Is this bad ? Well, yes, but nobody in government can say this is the least bit surprising. One example I thought was particularly glaring was the "yellow vests" going outside of France proper. This was 3 weeks into this protest. Nothing in the local newspapers whatsoever. Then suddenly a message "half the country's police force (not just the city's) deployed to Charleroi because 3 yellow vests seen". Wait, what ? Why the hell would the police do that ? Well, now we know. And even now, the reporting about the extent of the protests is ... well let's just say it doesn't match what Twitter and Youtube are (effectively) reporting. From the cities I know, I must say, especially the Youtube videos looks quite convincing, and I don't think at all this is fake news. But you won't find the extent of the protests in the newspapers even today. So I must say, one gets the feeling rather strongly a significant portion of the government complaints is about the government first gaining, then losing the ability to censor information about social protests. They want to prevent information spreading through facebook/twitter/youtube/... I don't feel they should get that power. At all. Not even if there are violent incidents during the protests, because let's face facts here: the government doesn't care about the violence. They care about the protests becoming public knowledge. And keeping a Goldman Sach's banker in power. |