Postcard from Montpellier II

Last week, President Macron tried to annul the right to protest. In France. In France. Whatever next: a ban on casual infidelity, impossibly ornate tiny cakes, or dismissive shrugging? How did we get here? The 17th of October¶ On the 17th, the government lost control, both within metropolitan France and in its overseas territories. The police added to their bloody tally of eyeballs and hands. An English retiree (who we can probably safely assume was not taking part in any protest) had a hole blown through her leg in Toulouse. Two people died, with suspiciously little information shared about the circumstances. One publication, trying to quantify the scale of the violence, called it the biggest police bloodbath since the 1961 Paris massacre. In Montpellier, the size of the crowd was larger than I’ve ever seen: estimates range from 35,000 (official) to 40,000 (sympathiser). Starting from Comédie Square, we marched down to the train station, then back up to Observatoire; a 800m walk that…