French Insurrection of 1832

Factual Questions
1

In the novel (and most versions) of Les Miserables, the big climax of the 2nd half of the story centers around the Paris Riots or Inserruction of June 5-6, 1832.

The problem is, after searching the net and even rereading the revelent portions of the book, I still really have very little idea why they happened. All I know is that the Students are apparently doing this on behalf of the poor and they were set of by the Death of a certain Gen. Lemarc. Pretty much everyone who took arms was arrested or killed.

Is there anyone who is familar with french history who could answer this question? I understand why the Revoluton of 1830 happened(and 1789) but the reason for this one seems to elude me. Hugo looks like he’s trying to explain in the book, but it’s very easy to get lost in his verbose way of explaining it.

Or is it like many protests where you have people with far too much free time on their hands and intense passion that goes with it, only it turned ugly for some reason?

2

General Lamarque was one of Napoleon’s generals and a hero to republicans and the working people of Paris. When he died, there were republican demonstrations throughout the city. The government, knowing of his popularity, and because there had been republican and working class riots in Paris over the past few years., had called out the army and the police to keep an eye on the demonstrators. The demonstrators clashed with the army, and what started as peaceful demonstrations turned into a full fledged riot.

3

Well…I learnt something today…I never heard before about this 1832 riots (I assumed that the insurrection in “Les miserables” was the 1830 revolution…last time I read this book, I was a child)