Fire and concrete: will France’s model of radical climate protest catch on?

As campaigning hots up around the world once again, eyes have been turning to the country that is taking things further

In the UK, when climate activists want to block a road, they sit down on it. When their fellow activists in France want to do the same, they build a wall across one side, and set the other side on fire.

As Extinction Rebellion drew tens of thousands to their peaceful “Big One” protests in London last weekend, in the south of France 8,500 environmental protesters occupied the road from Toulouse to the town of Castres.