What's the Political Situation Like in Paris?
France’s history of colonisation has left a community of Northern African people, especially Algerians, demanding reparations. The French-Algerian war, which took place between 1954 to 1962, led to the independence of Algeria after 132 years of French colonisation. However, tensions have not gotten better since then. Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, has been under fire for comments he has recently made regarding the war and colonisation. Thus, he and his government are not particularly liked by Franco-Algerians and Algerians.
While this likely won’t affect travellers when visiting, it’s important to know. And you will likely see protests or demonstrations in République. One might presume that the historically prevalent strikes and protests in Paris date back to the dizzying amount of revolutions that took place in Paris throughout the centuries. Ask a French person, they’ll shrug and tell you that the French response to not being content with a law, tax, decision or status quo is to strike or protest (almost once a year the national train or public transportation union goes on strike). In this square there will often be political or environmental manifestations and they are rarely violent. However, violence has been used against protestors and even migrants, like in 2020 when police brutally kicked migrants out of tents placed around République to bring awareness to the immigration crisis that France, and especially Paris, faces.
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