A Day That Shook The World: Paris student riots

Friday 06 May 2011 00:00 BST

(AFP/Getty)

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On 6 May 1968, French students nearly brought their capital city to its knees as they fought running battles against riot police.

In scenes unlike anything since the liberation of Paris in 1944, 30,000 students from the Sorbonne clashed with the state for a whole host of reasons, including anti-Americanism, unemployment, displeasure at President de Gaulle and police brutality.

Despite the arrest and deportation of their German leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the city did not quite return to normal until a general election in June, which returned de Gaulle to power by a landslide.

Watch original British Pathe footage from the riots, above.

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A Day That Shook The World: Paris student riots

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