Ah, the city of lights.

So why are Parisians burning down their city by setting up burning barricades (this has basically been their solution to everything since the 1790s)?

Like every other Western nation that's messed around with bad fiscal/socialist policy and is now finding out, France has proposed pushing the retirement age back for the sake of its budget.

Since parliament has had trouble passing such a law, however, French President Macron just said "screw it" and called a special Cabinet session to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Thousands of protesters assembled at the Place de la Concorde near the nation's parliament building. Riot police marched on the protesters to scatter them, but Parisians ran through the streets in the posh Champs-Elysees neighborhood, setting fire to garbage, cars, and, well, pretty much anything.

As for why they there was so much trash to burn...

French authorities say 310 people were arrested for rioting Thursday night across the nation, 258 of whom were in Paris alone.

Despite the crackdown, as of Friday morning, tensions (and the fires) remained high:

Politicians who oppose Macron's measure are expected to introduce a vote of no-confidence that would force Macron and his government to resign.

If that happens, well, I feel like I've seen this movie before.