The Slatest

Want to Help a Fascist? Start a Riot.

The French protests are a warning about the political right’s ability to spin violence to its advantage.

Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by jacoblund /iStock/Getty images Plus.

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Hundreds of thousands of people are protesting in the streets. Rioters are looting stores, burning buildings, and attacking police stations. The authorities have cracked down even as opposition politicians criticize the government for failing to quell the discord.

That describes what’s been happening in France for the past month as students, activists, and labor unions protest everything from education funding to inflation . But it also describes what happened in the U.S. in the 1960s, when protests over racism, the Vietnam War, and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. sometimes escalated into riots.…