Russia is increasingly edgy due to the citizen protests, many of them violent, rapidly spreading across Europe. Michael Walsh, who received 6 x 4-month prison sentences in 1979 for predicting the migrant-ignited insurrections, is clear as to what is happening in Europe and the United States.

‘This was entirely predictable and avoidable but everyone save for a brave few stigmatised as ‘conspiracy theorists’ had their heads buried so deep in the sand only their backsides were visible.’

May Day protests in the French city of Lyon got out of hand, with black-clad anarchists and others clashing with armoured riot police. Tear gas was fired and squads of cops charged at demonstrators. In Paris, the Yellow Vests ~ people power came out in force.

Trade unions and workers’ groups took to the streets of Lyon on Saturday to mark International Workers’ Day. Waving banners, an estimated 3,000 workers were soon joined by opportunist black-clad anarchist protesters and Islamists, who reportedly clashed with the larger groups of demonstrators. 

Marching toward Place Bellecour in the centre of the city, the procession found its way blocked by riot police. Scuffles quickly broke out between the more militant anarchists and the police, who charged at the crowd several times.

As officers pushed the crowds back, protesters resisted, and were met with batons and shields. Video footage shows the cops clubbing some protesters and dragging them off the street. French media reported at least four arrests by early afternoon.

When the procession finally reached Place Bellecour, the atmosphere was festive. Protesters danced, played drums and waved brightly coloured umbrellas. However, police who were not in the party mood soon broke up the party with clouds of tear gas, after some demonstrators reportedly damaged protective panels around a statue of Louis XVI.

Similar violent demonstrations are being held in Paris, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes and Marseille, with several thousand participants reported in each city. Paris already saw running street battles between riot police and a gathering of anarchists and Yellow Vests protesters. Using tear gas and batons, the cops managed to break up the group, with the stragglers re-joining the trade unions and workers’ groups afterwards, according to Le Parisien.

Rather than focusing on one specific issue, May Day is usually a clearinghouse for dissent of all kinds, and across the country, protesters came together to air a spectrum of grievances. Some protested their wages and working conditions, others marched against new security bills that would dramatically extend the police’s surveillance powers and criminalize the sharing of pictures of officers. Still more protested the government’s perceived inaction against climate change and response to Covid-19. 

French President Emmanuel Macron has seen his approval rating slide to 37% in the most recent polls, down from 43% at the beginning of the year.

Opposition to his leadership hasn’t just come from the left either. Late last month, a group of 20 retired generals penned a letter accusing Macron of allowing Islamist ’hordes’ to push France toward civil war. Some 58% of French people agree with the generals’ warning, according to a poll published on Thursday by LCI TV. Source 1, Source 2