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Despite the heavy presence of police in towns, French society experienced throughout the eighteenth century and without interruption numerous movements of more or less violent protest. This article studies the various manifestations of popular protest inside Paris, and its surroundings, ranging from insulting words and satiric songs to forms of rebellion identifiable as being against the Ferme générale. Riots caused by hunger, illegal hunting and trading, and the tensions relating to specific sentences will also be examined. Finally, the armed bands led by brigands whose fame was only embellished throughout the eighteenth century, with some of them changing into revolutionary leaders and heroes of the struggles of national independence, will then be studied.