France's penchant for protests offers challenge ahead of Paris Olympics

Widespread protests in France are not uncommon. In fact, they are an ingrained part of the country's history dating back to the French Revolution. But the last few months have been especially rattling and have cast a shadow over the planning and execution of next summer's Olympic Games in Paris.

First the country was paralyzed in January by pension protests directed at French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to raise the legal retirement age by two years to 64.

The constant refrain of demonstrators was "No withdrawal, no Olympics."

Then this month, thousands of people took to the streets after the police shot and killed 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk, a French citizen of Moroccan and Algerian descent, as he attempted to flee a traffic stop in a Paris suburb.

In the wake of the killing, mass riots broke out in cities across the country, driven by a long-standing tension between French police and many of the country's racialized population. Thousands of cars and buildings were destroyed. Calm has only been restored in recent days and came only with the deployment of thousands of police.

"Protests are more common in France than in many other democracies. So it seems more common in France that important political issues are resolved after big protests rather than in parliaments," says Johannes Lindval, a political science professor at the University of Gothenburg.

"The regular ways of expressing political opinions and being represented in politics are sort of closed off in France more than in other comparable countries in this region. Therefore people feel that they have to kind of participate in politics through a different means."

Both of these protests have already affected France's Olympic efforts.

During the pension riots, a French labour union cut power to numerous Olympic sites, including the main Olympic Stadium and the Olympic Village. Protesters even briefly occupied the Olympic organizing committee offices.

The widespread protests seen over the past few weeks left the Olympic Aquatic Training Centre, which was under construction, badly burned.

Organizers and Olympics officials are downplaying any impact these events could have on the Games.

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"We have learnt with regret about the recent incidents in France," an IOC spokesperson told Reuters. "We have full confidence in the organizing committee and the French authorities to deliver successful Olympic and Paralympic Games and in the hospitality of the French people to welcome the world to these Games."

"We're still a year away from the Games," said Emmanuel Gregoire, First Deputy Mayor of Paris. "We shouldn't get our calendars mixed up."