As bad as the situation in France is, I can think of something that I think would be even worse than having violent mobs protesting in a destructive manner, against increased fuel taxes imposed by a criminally-corrupt government.
That would be for a criminally-corrupt government to impose increased fuel taxes, for those subject to that government to get a ballot initiative to repeal those taxes, and then for a majority of voters to reject that measure, allowing the corrupt taxe to stand. That is exactly what just happened here in California. As crazy as this state is, I still am unable to wrap my head around the extreme, abject stupidity, that a majority of our voting population would let the criminal filth who govern this state get away with this. Violent rioting is really not a solution, but at least it shows that the people of France are awake, in a way that too many of my fellow Californians are not.