Tons of pictures at the link. Interesting. Just listened to the Revolutions Podcast that covered the period of the French Revolution. Parisians love those barricades. Used them back in the revolution. Using them now.
Its an apolitical grassroots mass movement that comes from all walks of life. Leftist, conservative, moderate - everyone in France feels left out of a political system in which they have no real voice and in which their backs are pressed to the wall.
Its an accumulation of many things but the fuel tax hikes was the final straw that broke the camel’s back. You have a government that doesn’t care about the majority of people forcing them to pay more while they get less. People are fed up and making themselves heard.
They want change and they will be in the streets until they get it.