The current protests in France, like the earlier gilet-jeunes movement, began peacefully. The response of the French state was, as usual, extraordinarily violent. Thugs in police uniform half-blinded a number of gilet-jeunes protestors and got away with it. No-one in authority bothered much about the victims. A lesson well learned by some of those protesting today. When someone is trying to kill or seriously harm you, non-violence might not be the way to go.