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Could It Though? · Friday · 5 min

Could protesters bring down France's government?

It started with a few high school kids in the suburbs of Paris. No teacher for six months. Three weeks later, 550,000 people were marching across France, and a historic town hall had burned. So could protesters actually bring down France’s government? We look at how easy it is to sack a French prime minister (France lost three in under a year), why the president is almost untouchable, and the rule that says once 3.5% of a country hits the streets, governments almost never survive. Then the history: the Bastille, May 1968, the yellow vests, the pension marches, and the young people who just toppled governments in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. Plus the one problem with toppling Macron: he’s already packing. Could it? Would it? Should it? I’m Gazza, and this is Could It Though? Got a hypothetical you want us to run? Send it in. If you’re enjoying Could It Though?, hit follow and leave us a five-star rating. It really helps new people find the show. New episode every day.

0:00-5:08
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It started with a few high school kids in the suburbs of Paris. No teacher for six months. Three weeks later, 550,000 people were marching across France, and a historic town hall had burned.

So could protesters actually bring down France’s government? We look at how easy it is to sack a French prime minister (France lost three in under a year), why the president is almost untouchable, and the rule that says once 3.5% of a country hits the streets, governments almost never survive.

Then the history: the Bastille, May 1968, the yellow vests, the pension marches, and the young people who just toppled governments in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. Plus the one problem with toppling Macron: he’s already packing.

Could it? Would it? Should it? I’m Gazza, and this is Could It Though?

Got a hypothetical you want us to run? Send it in.

If you’re enjoying Could It Though?, hit follow and leave us a five-star rating. It really helps new people find the show. New episode every day.

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