I have breathing issues due to being tear gassed too often, my left shoulder suffers from very painful tendinitis that will probably never go away due to being tossed on the ground / beat up, got an acquaintance who lost an eye to a rubber bullet, that’s the life of a regular french demonstrator.

You are severely underestimating the violence of french anti-riot policing methods. Those weapons might sound chill due to being labeled “non-lethal”, but they’re actually quite lethal (people die regularly) and violate the Geneva protocol (tear gas usage is theoretically banned on civilians).

If you believe it’s that relaxed, come demonstrate in France, see what it’s like to be charged at by 100 dudes in full body armor swinging at you trying to do maximum damage while you’re caught in a cloud of toxic gas with nowhere to run. You thought the press could cover your ass by filming the police violence, or that the government would do something about police brutality? Guess what, they target journalists too, and our govt encourages police brutality.

If you’re looking for excuses, don’t drag us into it. Protesting in France isn’t an easy affair, we genuinely put our lives on the line every time we go out there. It’s the police that decides how violent protests are, the reason you hear so much about french “riots” is because our police keeps escalating the violence. We have a peaceful nature.

Americans need to shut the fuck up about the rest of the world I swear. You’re not that special.

Rubber bullets banned in many countries, people lose eyes to them in France

Tear gas long term health effects

Casualties from the yellow vest protests

Police violence on journalists

This documentary’s trailer should tell you enough about our riot police situation