Is Sarkozy the new Thatcher?

I don't often talk politics but the situation in France is really getting to me so here goes.
In the 1980's and early 1990's I lived in England under the reign of Margaret Thatcher and her right wing government. Over the space of my youth until adulthood, the right wing managed to turn a proud country into a nation of downtrodden sychophants who accept that the poor should be made poorer and the rich made richer and that public opinion should be squashed by force.
Thatchers utter destruction of unions followed by the putting in place of safeguards to enable many forms of public assembly to be tightly controlled -even brutally put down- and the consequent construction of a CCTV surveillance system that communist China would be proud of has served to keep the populace in line, even through the supposedly socialist government that followed it.
In 1993 I voted with my feet after the British people voted conservative again and elected John Major to deal out more punishment and to ride roughshod over ordinary folk, of whom I was one. One reason I came to France was because I loved the way ordinary people were still able to express displeasure at the government and how, if elected officials didn't make some compromise, a good demonstration, followed by a bit of civil disobedience and maybe a lorry load of cow crap in the local council office lobby soon put things right.
Today however, Sarkozy is behaving in a more and more right wing manner. The virtual pogrom against Romany people was something one might expect to hear of from middle european countries, not France. Now, quashing unarmed public demonstrations and blockades of fuel with what are effectively SWAT teams makes the appearance of a "conservative" government look more and more like a fascist state.
The social security and pension system in France takes vast chunks of money from wage earners. With employers contributions, the cost of a wage is almost twice the takehome pay and that doesn't include any eventual income taxes that might be paid. French people live for and plan for their "Retraite" and to raise the pension limit will cause problems.
I will be honest and say that I hope the French people can hold out against Sarkozy's brand of Thatcherism and remain a free and proud people who are able to give their elected officials the finger from time to time. Vive La France!