The worst rioting to rock Paris in years left a trail of destruction and vandalism in recent days, and ultimately led French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe to announce a suspension of what initially provoked the backlash: higher fuel taxes.
What began as a protest in October of President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to increase fuel taxes turned into a broader outcry across the country against policies that favor the elite at the expense of the working class.
A popular Russian blogger and photographer by the name of Ilya Varlamov did a world-class job of capturing the essence of the protests. This shot, in particular, went viral across social media:
On Reddit, where the image rode a wave of upvotes to the front page, was hailed as the rare photo that “so accurately captures the spirit of an era.”
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