The headline on the English newspaper online edition was stark in its message: Torching Toulouse.

French city burns as riots erupt. Dramatic pictures showed smoke and flames and fleeing youths, their faces masked by bandanas. Grim black-garbed riot police ?? shields forming a protective carapace, batons raised for the charge.

I am barely 50 minutes away from the city and instinctively walked outside expecting to see plumes of smoke rising in the distance. At the same time I wondered why there had been nothing on the French radio, which was playing in the background, and nothing on the local papers?? online editions that I check regularly.

Re-reading the story and eventually marrying it up to the few paragraphs eventually put up online, it was clear the incident had been magnified out of all proportion. The smoke and flames came from a handful of green rubbish bins that had been used as a barrier against police who had channelled protesters into a stand-off.

The demo, repeated in other cities, had begun as a peaceful march by close to 1000 people over the death of a young activist killed by a police grenade ?? A protest against ??police brutality?? and ??murder by the State?? as many banners proclaimed. Several other cities were also involved.

Remi Fraisse, 21, died during a similar stand-off a few weeks earlier as eco-activists marched against controversial plans to build a dam, and flood prime land by Albi, capital of the Tarn.

But As ever in France, whether it be shepherding football fans to a stadium or policing the hundreds of ??manifestations?? that are a ??right?? here, the riot police were on the scene.

The CRS (Compagnie Republicaine de la Securite) and Gendarmes Mobiles is a formidable, increasingly combined force, that over the years has acquired a reputation for its violent responses to demos and civil disturbance.

Dressed in black body armour and face visors, they carry an array of persuaders including the baton, pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets and the infamous grenade now banned after Fraisse??s death.

They often call on water cannons as back-up.

Their appearance on the streets immediately serves to raise the already fevered temperature and to the observer they create an atmosphere of intimidation. Certainly not one an atmosphere of mere peace-keeping.

Their Supporters insist they only act when provoked. In Fraisse??s case, Molotov cocktails had been thrown, although there is no suggestion the victim was involved. Their opponents claim they hit the streets aggressively ready for immediate direct action. Having seen them in operation in Paris in the past I know to which side I incline.

This morning, the father of a girl who is an activist for both animal rights and ecological concerns, arrived to do some work for me. I asked if she??d been in Toulouse that day. ??Her ears are still ringing,?? he said.

??The marchers had been blocked off by the police in a side street and something was fired into them which exploded leaving a scorch mark along the street.

??She said The noise was incredible. They??d been marching along one of the main streets when they were blocked and forced down another and so on until they were all corralled with police at either end and that??s when it kicked off.

??Tear gas came next but she??s used to it by now ?? it seems to be automatically used as soon as they bunch them off the main roads.

??There??s no attempt at simple crowd control ?? it seems to be instant, physical confrontation.??

A big man, he has often accompanied his girl, who is a 22-year-old university student in Toulouse, simply because he increasingly fears for her safety.

??Of course These kids are passionate,?? he says, ??and some are there to deliberately stir up trouble. They know that ?? and stewards are always on the look-out for that kind.

??They are warned beforehand about their behaviour no matter how much the police provoke them into some action.

??Few would willingly take on the riot police ?? there??s always only one outcome.

??In France we take it as our right to go out on the cobbles. That used to be respected and both sides knew where they stood.

??No more. If Hollande doesn??t rein them in, there will be more deaths and then they??ll see what a real riot looks like.??

Of course France has already seen that with the infamous May riots of 1968 when in a volatile period of civil unrest France was brought to the brink of another revolution and a total state breakdown the state.

But, paradoxically it was a more innocent time of belief in a social revolution where violence was , in the main, relatively limited and therefore all the more shocking to the outside world.

Now France is depressed and underemployed with little faith in a weak leader. Major reforms are planned for the sacred cows of state subsidy and care, and the main political parties are fractured.

The main political parties are fractured. Le Pen, of the far right Front National, waits in the wings and police, students and workers increasingly face each other in escalating combat. One day I may well walk out and see Toulouse burning.