Look how tough I am

If ever there were any doubts about the new era that Nicolas Sarkozy will usher in, you need only look at the response to protests in France following the presidential elections. (See Le Monde).
A student who protested in Toulouse has been sentenced to a month in prison for aggravated assault on a police officer. Ok, so the protests were violent, but let's take a look at his crime: the assault was aggravated because the culprit used a weapon, which was an empty beer can. Although this was thrown in the general direction of the police, it didn't actually hit anyone. The student didn't deny his involvement and had no previous record for misdemeanours of any kind.
Sarkozy wants to show everyone how tough he is and wants this message relayed across the country via the judicial system. But what kind of justice will this bring? The parallels with early 80s Britain are there for all to see. How long before a repeat of Brixton / Toxteth / Handsworth, or a power struggle with a union that opposes his crushing form of "free enterprise", in the style of the miners' strike?