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On the streets in Bordeaux: ‘It pains me to see our city on fire but we need to take a stand’

by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inFrance

A crowd has gathered outside Bordeaux’s City Hall. People are taking pictures of the walls and doors, which were set on fire at the weekend. They are still standing but now blistered and black. Rony Bertrand, 60, shakes her head in dismay at the damage done to the building, which was built in the late 18th century and survived the French Revolution.

“It’s become so normal now that things are being destroyed, it sickens me,” Bertrand says. “Who’s going to pay for this? The people of Bordeaux are, that’s who.” Philippe Rouchon, 56, who works in fire prevention, says “it pains me to see this, my job is to prevent fires” – but he understands the protests, at President Emmanuel Macron pushing through a rise in the pension age to 64.

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