When Your Childhood Friend Comes At You In Riot Gear

 

When Your Childhood Friend Comes At You In Riot Gear

Two childhood friends meet during a protest. One is a factory worker, the other is a riot officer. Guy Burmieux and Jean-Yvon Antignac were childhood friends but they chose different paths in life. On April 6, 1972 in Brittany, France, Guy was part of a protest to get better working conditions. Jean-Yvon and other riot officers were called in to quell the protestors. Not because it’s a brilliant candid shot of a protesting factory worker and a riot officer in a standoff. Although it is. But because, like many moments in life, the backstory is just as poignant. Take a minute to absorb the emotion on the striker’s face. We might assume his expression is triggered by heated emotions related to the protest. But it was more than that. This is the moment the protestor recognized that the officer with the baton was his childhood friend. True story. Long before Jacques Gourmelen took this photo on April 6, 1972 in Saint-Brieuc (France), the worker, Guy Burmieux, and the riot policeman, Jean-Yvon Antignac, had grown up together. The two had gone to high school together. Partied together. One article called them “best friends.” Guy himself is quoted as calling them “inseparable.”