[rsynnott]

Well, also, it is _France_; proud tradition of very large dramatic protests and riots going back over two hundred years. It's kind of their thing. French farmers routinely shut down whole cities when they're vaguely irritated about something; it's unsurprising that protests around more serious and emotive matters than France enforcing an EU ban it was already meant to be enforcing on a pesticide get a bit dramatic.

[stavros]

I don't know if that's just a France thing, I remember here (Greece) ten years or so ago, when a police officer shot a teenager, and the whole country was in flames for a week from the riots. There are still marches and protests every year, on the anniversary.