Tourists dream about many things when they think of Paris. The lights of the Eiffel Tower, admired from a romantic boat trip on the river Seine; croissants and coffee for breakfast; long flâneries down Haussmannien boulevards. What they certainly don’t expect from a trip to the French capital is to be doused with tear gas on the Champs-Elysées — despite it having become a rather common French experience in the past year.
On 21 September, as gilets jaunes (yellow vest) protesters assembled for their 45th consecutive weekly protest, and joined forces with the climate march, clashes erupted with the police in Paris. Amid the chaos, several tourists walking on the Champs-Elysées (who spoke English to the press but did not say where they were from) were violently sprayed with tear gas by the police despite repeated attempts to explain that they were simply trying to reach their car. One man told French TV: “He [the police officer] sprayed [tear gas] directly into our faces. After we said we were just walking toward the car. Directly into our faces.”
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