It seems to me that Americans associate Police with being helpful and protecting the public by preventing crime, whereas the French see the Police as being authoratative and as a force for keeping order.

Is there police brutality in France?

La brutalité policière est prénsente certs, mais il s'agit de cas isolés qui sont généralement dénoncés par la presse et les ossociations (tel que SOS racisme) et suscitent souvent des réactions musclés de la part des victimes et des citoyens en général.

Although the american responses are generally positive, negative connotations to police are also brought up, and with rather strong use of language (brutality, feared, racist). I think as Wahbi commented, there are certain cases where this is seen. Because they are so controversial, these are the cases that are highly publicized and lead to bad sentiments towards police. 

Is it safe to conclude that police brutality exists in both France and the US?

It seems like the press in both places works towards sensationalism of certain situations in order to attract the general public. 

I have a few questions: How does the police react during strikes? Have there been cases where the police act in a racially discriminatory manner? 

Strikes seem to have a different meaning here in the US than in France. Is it true that strikes occur very often and are normally resolved fairly quickly?

What does it mean to be on strike in France?

Are there any laws enforced by the police about strikes?

To continue with the torrent of demands, my question is this: 

I noticed in our responses that there seemed to two general views of police in America, the brave heroes versus the repressive regime. However, among your responses, there seemed to be less focus upon opinion of the police and more upon the concept of police as a symbol for peace-keeping and control, though not in the negative sense. I have come to the conclusion that our American attitutes are the result of the media's portrayal of the police, which galvanizes our opinions strongly one way or the other. The fact that this is not as prominent among your responses is interesting to me. So, long story short, my question is this:

Are there fewer incidents between French police and 'disruptive' gatherings or do people make more of an effort to sympathize with the police force rather than jumping on the bandwagon to condemn it? 

La grève est un droit en France : tout travailleur salarié peut se déclarer en grève et donc cesser de travailler. C'est donc un conflit  légal qui se résout entre les grévistes et leurs employeurs, et qui ne fait pas intervenir la police.

Par ces questions, je crois comprendre que c'est réellement différent aux États-Unis. Quand est-il ?

La brutalité policière existe en France mais comme l'a dit Whabi elle ne reste pas impuni. J'ai le souvenir d'avoir lu récemment un article de journal traitant de cela (même je n'arrive plus à me rappeller des détails).

Lors des grèves et des différentes manifestations, la police est toujours présente
pour escorter les manifestants et éviter tout débordement ce qui d'après moi
n'arrive que très rarement.

Pour ce qui est de la fréquence des grêves, mes parents travaillent tous les deux dans l'enseignement et sont toujours prêts à faire grêve (ce qui arrivent relativement souvent il faut le dire) quand cela est justifié (diminution du personnel scolaire ou encore augmentation des heures à faire sur place).

Tout comme Romain, j'attends avec impatience de savoir comment cela se passe aux Etats-Unis !

Although I personally don't keep up with recent news, my idea of a strike in the United States is a group of union workers who feel that their rights are being violated. It seems difficult for a group to get organized, but when it does happen it often leads to violence as people get angry and police keep them under control. 

A strike is a serious issue because loss of personnel also means loss of product, and that can greatly affect different companies. 

Thomas: strikes in the US are usually organized by labor unions. They do not last for a long time because settlements are usually reached soon, since, as Judy has said, here there is the thinking that time is money, and lost time is lost money. Nevertheless, the last major strike was occupy wall street, and that was very out of character for American strikes since it was not organized by labor unions and it was more violent than the usual nature of american strikes. 

I was under the impression that Occupy Wall Street is not a strike, more of a protest...
So, I can speak from first-hand experience concerning strikes on the docks for shipping companies. About 3 years ago (I believe. Time flies so quickly), the dockworkers in the L.A. harbor went on a massive strike, shutting down every port for ~100 miles of coast.

The strike itself was, to be quite honest, scary. I remember going to work with my father (non-union, thus not on strike) that day. The strikers were yelling at us, heckling us for crossing their line. I can't imagine what they would have done to replacement workers, had they been brought in. Moreover, the strike was costing the state of California 2 billion dollars per day in lost revenue.

This is not characteristic of all strikes here in the US, particularly. I've presented it merely as my experience with this topic.

En fait, je viens de réaliser que je ne connais pas vraiment le fonctionnement de la police américaine ...
Existe-t-il une sorte de hiérarchie ? par exemple, une police au niveau des villes, puis une autre au niveau des états (avec plus de pouvoir sans doute) etc...