Comment: Why does the media always frame things that way?
There are no "violent clashes between the police and yellow vests..."
There are state security forces violently brutalizing the yellow vest protesters - even after they've formally applied for, and been granted, permission to protest in certain places at certain times.
The only time the protesters hurt those state instigators is when they defend themselves.
Here are the latest statistics. Less than three months since it kicked off, the Yellow Vests movement has turned into one of the longest and most violent social protests in modern France. Hundreds of protestors and police alike have been injured since the start of the protests with claims of police violence over the controversial use of rubber-bullets and stun grenades by French security forces have been gaining ground. Here's a look at the numbers.
1,700 people
According to government figures, 1,700 people have been injured and 1,000 policemen or gendarmes have been hurt in the 11 weeks of conflict. Out of those injured, 100 have been seriously hurt and 11 people have now died.
Comment: That's "seriously hurt" as in they've had a hand or foot blown off by police grenades. Or, when shot in the face, an eye.
Most of those casualties resulted from road accidents at blockades in the early days of the protest. The government stress that no protester has dies as a result of police action. One protester died of a heart attack during Saturday's demo in Paris that turned violent. Out of those injured, 15 people are thought to have sustained serious eye injuries, including a police officer who lost an eye. One of the many who have lost the use of an eye include one of the leaders of the yellow vests, Jérôme Rodrigues, who was badly wounded in his right eye at the weekend.
Other sources claim different numbers however. The French left-wing newspaper Libération puts the numbers of yellow vests (and some journalists) hurt severely in the protests at 109, while the charity against state violence 'Désarmons-les' has estimated the number of badly to severely injured to be 124. According to the same charity, the total number of injured is also much higher than the government statistics, at between 2,000 to 3,000 people.
Comment: Christophe Dettinger, the boxer who landed a couple of punches against riot police attacking women, just today received two years' imprisonment. Many less high-profile cases than his have seen people sent down for up to a year for posting messages on social media about organizing rallies.
This is one revolution that certainly is not being televised.