{"id":660028,"date":"2026-10-20T05:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T05:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/660028\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T05:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T05:12:11","slug":"i-have-never-felt-anything-so-painful-in-my-life-irish-caught-in-french-riots-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/660028\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I have never felt anything so painful in my life\u2019: Irish caught in French riots \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to get into any altercation with the riot police, so we ended up just running through the tear gas, and I have never felt anything so painful in my life,\u201d says Clara Conyngham (23), a Dubliner who took part in protests in Paris<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Conyngham has been taking part in student protests since she moved to the capital to begin a master\u2019s in cognitive science at the \u00c9cole Normale Sup\u00e9rieure this year.<\/p>\n

Her student body joined a movement started by secondary school students \u201cafter we saw the kind of violence they were met with for these very reasonable protest demands\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a teacher got sick or was away at maternity leave, these poor students would be left for seven or eight months without a teacher for that subject,\u201d Conyngham says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe classroom conditions were terrible: cockroaches, rats, crazy temperatures in the summer and then freezing in the winter, and obviously this disproportionately affected poorer areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

At noon on Saturday she went to the official march starting point at Place de la R\u00e9publique in central Paris, where student protesters joined a revived Yellow Vests movement including farmers, climate activists, trade unionists united in anger about the cost of living<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe involvement of the Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) with the ongoing French school blockades expanded the scope of demonstrations across France last weekend. Photograph: Carl Court\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

There she encountered riot police as she tried to join.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were walking down one of the streets when we saw them coming up behind us, the riot police, coming with batons and all, a big line of them,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just gonna leg it in the other direction, but they had already thrown tear gas canisters, about five of them, in front of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conyngham ran through the gas to get away from the advancing police line. \u201cIt was like having Tabasco poured in my eyes,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She was assisted by protesters and \u201cstreet medics\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone was helping each other out. People had saline that they were giving out, and we were all putting it in each other\u2019s eyes. In the midst of all this chaos, it was kind of a beautiful moment,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0French prime minister calls for partial curfews in bid to quell unrestOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Conyngham eventually managed to link up with the main march as it made its way through Paris. The scene was \u201cnight and day\u201d to the chaos at Place de la R\u00e9publique. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople playing music, chanting, singing. Old people, young people. There was a child who was holding up a sign from his apartment, saying \u2018Bravo\u2019, and everyone would cheer when they went past.\u201d<\/p>\n

The area where she lives was affected by the looting and violence that spread from the initial clashes on Place de la R\u00e9publique.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s burned-out bikes and looted shops,\u201d Conyngham says. \u201cObviously I don\u2019t believe in the burning and the looting, but you also have to understand that no people who are happy with their circumstances are taking these actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is a desperation move. This sort of group desperation, group violence, I think it takes on a mind of its own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally from Ballina, Peter Durcan (40) has lived in Limoges for 15 years where he runs a 3D-printing company. He was returning from a basketball tournament with his daughter on Saturday when they saw cars \u201ccoming up the motorway in the wrong direction\u201d and realised something was wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gang of people \u2013 I don\u2019t even know how to describe them \u2013 they went on to the motorway and stopped all the traffic, then put a cop car over on its roof, and burned it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He managed to get to his home in Limoges city. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou couldn\u2019t see it from where we live, but you could smell the smoke,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n

The protesters made their way to Limoges town hall, a protected structure from 1883 that stands at the centre of the city.<\/p>\n

\"DuringDuring demonstrations on Saturday evening, Limoges protesters set fire to the town hall. Photograph: Elise Cabane\/Hans Lucas\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s this unbelievably beautiful building at the heart of the city. It\u2019s where I got married 10 years ago, it\u2019s where all the kids get their paperwork, where their birth certificates come from, it\u2019s a super important part of the city,\u201d Durcan says.<\/p>\n

Local police say that by this point they had run out of tear gas canisters and were overwhelmed by the protesters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was obviously strategically planned,\u201d Durcan says. \u201cThey broke in by going in via the basement at the back, and also they had a battering ram.\u201d<\/p>\n

Footage of what followed has gone around the globe: flames engulfing the town hall and its spire collapsing in scenes reminiscent of the fire at Notre Dame<\/a> cathedral in Paris.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0What\u2019s behind the violence shaking France, and what comes next?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

On Sunday Durcan went to have a look at the aftermath. \u201cIt\u2019s smouldering,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s super unbelievably sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

A solidarity rally was held in the square, and the mayor and local officials addressed the crowd. Some sang the Marseillaise. \u201cIt was quite emotionally charged.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some protesters were peaceful and had reasonable demands, Durcan says. He believes those who caused the damage were a mix of politically-motivated people \u201cwho are just against everything that the government stands for\u201d and kids \u201cfrom the suburbs who are just making the most of the chaos to loot shops\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cPetrol is expensive, and I can understand their frustration, but that\u2019s nothing to do with the French government,\u201d can says. \u201cAfter the amount of hatred and anger and violence that was used \u2013 it\u2019s got zero credibility, it\u2019s outrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to get into any altercation with the riot police, so we ended up just running…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1814,42,43,64428,1838,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-660028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-france","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-notre-dame-cathedral","tag-paris","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}