On 16 February, a video emerged in which some gilets jaunes protestors were shown hurling abuse and anti-Semitic insults against prominent French Jewish philosopher and intellectual Alain Finkielkraut. Among the words heard were, “dirty Zionist,” “We are the people,” “France is ours,” and “Go back to Tel Aviv.” The son […]
In December, Emmanuel Macron’s French government responded to weeks of gilets jaunes (yellow vests) protests by initiating a Grand Débat National (Great National Debate) in an attempt to quell the protests. The debate is meant to give all French citizens the opportunity to participate in dialogue about the national crisis that […]
Across France, the the far-right group Generation Identity (GI) has stirred unrest and hatred, with their violent sentiments recently having manifested in an attack on a young woman in Lille, France. An undercover reporter for Al Jazeera’s investigative unit filmed the assault, in which three men are shown to have […]
On January 19th, a rescue ship run by a German humanitarian group flying a Dutch flag saved 47 refugees from a sinking rubber boat off the Libyan coast. The ship, the Sea- Watch 3, has been docked off the Italian coast for almost two weeks because Italian Deputy Prime Minister […]
Recently, the Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) motioned to allow former President Laurent Gbagbo re-entrance into the country. Following this announcement, Gbagbo announced an imminent return, after years of exile for allegedly inciting political violence. Outraged citizens currently engage in protests against these recent proclamations. Amidst the turmoil, the nation now […]
The yellow vest protests in France have entered their 8th week with a resurging number of protesters. The protests November 17 with an estimated 290,000 demonstrators, according to France 24. Numbers decreased during the holiday period, but were back up to about 50,000 last Saturday, according to Reuters. Violence between […]
During the Christmas period, 40 individuals in northern France attempted to cross the Channel by boat, prompting Home Secretary Sajid Javid to label the incidents as a crisis. The number of migrants who have attempted to cross the channel into England since the start of November is estimated at 239. Sajid […]
What is happening in France? For the past three weekends in a row, France has had to endure a substantial protest against its economic policies. Indeed, a 20% increase in the fuel prices since 2018 started was one of the major triggers for the protests that began on November 17th. […]
Rescue and relief organizations SOS Méditerranée and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) have recently announced that they are ending the Aquarius refugee rescue mission in the Mediterranean Sea. This decision followed the two-month halt to operations that Aquarius has endured following the revocation of its registration. 24 people associated with Aquarius have been […]
During the latest round of rallies, police have utilized tear gas against protesters throughout Central France. As many as 125,000 demonstrators, belonging to the “Yellow Vest” movement, came out to march across the country, with 10,000 taking to the streets of Paris. In response, notable landmarks such as the Eiffel […]
