Yes, the burning cars were close to us this time

The protests / riots in Paris are getting closer to us. Although again we did not see any of it happen, the burning cars you probably saw on the news last night or this morning were about a 10-15 minute walk from our apartment and the boys' schools. In fact, they were within two blocks of the apartment where we stayed last month, by les Invalides. See the WPost story:

On Thursday afternoon, as a crowd of as many as 140,000 young people and others prepared to end their march in the large park fronting the gold-domed Hotel des Invalides housing Napoleon's tomb, gangs of hooded and masked youths darted out of side streets, setting cars ablaze, flipping others upside down, breaking store windows and throwing rocks and stones at police and firefighters, according to witnesses.

Riot police broke up the groups of rampaging youths with tear gas as acrid, black smoke filled narrow streets and billowed above the city skyline.

We will keep our heads down and stay safe.

(update 12:40pm) This picture of the riot police was taken at the same spot where we played soccer a couple of weeks back (below). That's a bit scary.