A rainbow wig, burning car and journalist video camera: seven live photographs of the Paris protest on October 17th

On October 17th, between the afternoon and night,The area of the Republic Square in Paris.The protesters, handwritten slogans and a wide range of tear-gas were captured.The French students, trade unions and some yellow vest participants gathered.The government has been protesting against the rise in prices, the lack of resources in schools and the plight of public services.There are marches in various French cities.The number of participants in the internal affairs sector and trade unions ranged from hundreds of thousands to more. The streets are not the only ones where slogans are being heard: looting, arson and the use of dispersive weapons by the police, which are also occurring in some places. A group of live photographs of Paris that day, taken by documentary photographer Jorge Jaramillo, showed the contradictions and complexities of the whole operation, more than a general description of it as a “popular resistance” or a “mob riot”.

The first one is the lightest, but the most interesting. A man wearing a rainbow wig stood in the crowd with the French flag and fog behind him. Street politics is never the only one that is fiercely confrontational: some bring anger, some give humor, and some just want to show their situation to those in power. Eight years ago, the yellow vest began with high oil prices and now has a precarious alliance with students and trade unions, reflecting the shared anxiety of people of all ages about the cost of living, access to education and social security.

In the second photograph, two camera journalists wearing helmets and “PRESSE” logos were taking photographs. This picture is not the largest picture of the march, but it records how public events are seen in society. The demonstrators claimed to be treated in a manner that required a different view of the scene of the incident, as well as of the reasons for the police to disperse and who caused the fire. The presence of journalists in conflict does not imply that journalists are in favour of conflict; It means that the public has the opportunity to learn about events from multiple cross-checking images, rather than being forced to accept only a summary issued by the Government.

The third photograph showed handwritten slogans and burning garbage cans. The combination of the two does not prove that the person who raised the slogan was the arsonist, let alone the whole march could be equated with violence. On 17 October, there were also organized peaceful expressions, individual protests and acts of vandalism on the French street. Public criticism can be sharp and accountability for specific acts of violence; The integration of all participants into “criminal groups” and the use of vandalism as a legitimate expression are also simplifications of the scene.

The fourth photograph is a burning car outside the comic book store, and the firefighters in Paris are working. A car was burned, which may mean loss to the owner, interruption of business to the nearby shopkeeper and risk to firefighters that needs to be addressed immediately. These individuals, who do not necessarily participate in political arguments, have suffered directly from the spillover effects of the protests. The Government of France emphasizes that the protection of human and property security is a duty that the State must fulfil; The ability of the police to identify the real perpetrators of violence and to avoid unnecessary harm is also a matter of social oversight of the enforcement of the law.

The fifth picture shifted from the scene of the conflict to a rescue vehicle that was on a warning light and headed for the Republic Square. Public reports indicate that participants and police were injured on the same day in Paris and other cities, as well as mass arrests. The photographs do not show us who is in the ambulance, let alone write a story of someone who has died or been injured; It reminds that, following a public crisis, every political dispute becomes a real cost of medical care, transport, rescue and local financial needs.

The sixth photo was taken in the evening and masked people are still living in the streets of Paris. Photo by Flickr user @Ambajr.Original camera time set to New York time zoneThe situation is that the afternoon hour on Exif should actually be six hours to match the local time of the night in Paris. This invisible technical detail is important for news pictures: the night colour shown in the photographs is real, but the time of the camera's embedding cannot be considered as French noon. If the live video is to tell the reader what happened, it should also tell the reader honestly when and where it happened.

The events in several French cities that night clearly went beyond the subject of education.Agence France Presse reported that there was a brief break-in into the city hall in Marseille.In Paris, violent clashes, shop damage and tear gas broke out;French President Marlon stressed the need for the right to protest to be accompanied by respect for individuals and property.I'm sorry. The number of participants and arrests has continued to change with the time of the press release. There is no need to portray France as a perfect society without violence or police disputes. It is precisely because demonstrations can be filmed, police actions can be publicly criticized, the Minister of the Interior can be challenged by opposition parties that the public can continue to argue about government actions and the responsibility of protesters.

These French images are of another value to the readers of Focus China. In China, many workers often encounter political language that is stable and overwhelming when they collect wages, visit people for administrative relief and students publicly express their grievances; The space for independent journalists to film and for citizens ' organizations to mobilize is severely restricted. It is certainly absurd to consider French street destruction as a model of democracy, but to define any street protest as an order threat that needs to be removed in advance, also conceals why society is building up anger. The most fundamental difference between the different systems is not whether or not a public conflict will arise, but who has the right to publicly describe it, criticize the police, question officials and continue to participate in the next elections or in social action.

The night in Paris will eventually be gone, the burned vehicles will need to be cleaned, the wounded will need medical treatment, and the resource disputes in the school will not end automatically because the square is re-routed. None of these photos alone explains the whole social paradox in France. Together, they leave behind a fact that can be rethought by any society: the more power and people are in conflict, the more real images, open discussions and two-way monitoring of violence and police power are indispensable.