Can you be specific about France's "brute force"?
Sure, blowing up the Rainbow Warrior, then pretending to punish the guy who did it. Also, in 1968, after they had let the "students" screw around for a few days, De Gaulle basically said "enough is enough", and then broke all their heads. Also, while France lost Algeria and Vietnam, what they did to try to hold them -- for many years- was rather nasty.
I'm not saying that France can prevail against a strong foe, like an actual army, but street violence, I think they can respond to in kind.