An uneasy calm has returned to French cities following an explosion of violence and looting that gripped the nation on Saturday, October 17th. However, the period of unrest is not considered over, with further demonstrations and strikes already scheduled, raising concerns about continued street clashes.
The Gilets Jaunes movement has called for another day of marches this Saturday, while main French trade union federations have ordered a day of strikes and protests for November 5th. Both groups maintain their events will be peaceful, yet observers fear they will provide fresh opportunities for the “amorphous groups” responsible for the October 17th violence and looting to cause further destruction and attack police.
The recent upheaval saw the burning down of the Limoges town hall on Saturday, an incident believed to be a planned attack by an ultra-left group. In the National Assembly on Tuesday, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu challenged La France Insoumise (LFI) group president Mathilde Panot to condemn this act. Ms. Panot reportedly appeared panicked for a few seconds before shifting the discussion to police violence, an incident highlighted as a parliamentary leader of a democratic party being unable to condemn the burning of public buildings.
The French Left, particularly Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s LFI, has been criticized for its “strange relationship with political violence.” Supposedly moderate leaders of the Left and trade unions have condemned the recent violence but simultaneously suggested it is an “inevitable response” to nine “brutal” years of Macronism. LFI itself has struggled to condemn street violence, often attributing blame to the government or police.
While the government claims LFI is responsible for fomenting last weekend’s violence, perhaps not directly, it is suggested that the party contributed “atmospherically.” Mélenchon and LFI have been accused of escalating political rhetoric around a justified lycée protest movement for weeks. During the peak of Saturday’s violence, Mélenchon posted a tweet showing peaceful marches elsewhere in Paris, stating: “Look, all calm and joy where there are no police.” This was interpreted as suggesting police initiated the violence against masked youths armed with Molotov cocktails, agricultural bird-scaring rockets, and hammers.
The scale of the October 17th violence, which at times resembled an insurrection, was unprecedented in 30 years of coverage, with ultra-left “casseurs” (smashers) appearing in far greater numbers than usual across Paris, Lyon, Marseilles, Bordeaux, and almost every large French city. Internal security services reportedly failed to anticipate this surge in support for the nebulous movement, which lacks clear leaders. The government deployed only 60,000 police, significantly fewer than the 90,000 deployed during the height of the Gilets Jaunes movement in December 2018, leading to riot police being overwhelmed.
The lack of police presence facilitated the spread of violence, leading to a second, largely apolitical, wave of opportunistic young looters from poor inner suburbs pouring into Paris, Marseille, and other areas. These groups smashed and looted 2,000 shops across France, with more incidents reported on Sunday.
The increased numbers of “black blocs” and other ultra-left participants are attributed to complex factors. While the ultra-left claims its actions are a “justified response to the ‘violence of the bourgeois, capitalist state’,” its members traditionally come from the bourgeoisie rather than the working class, who have increasingly turned to the Far Right. The growing support for “anti-democratic, ‘smash-the-state’ ideas” is also linked to a scarcity of jobs for middle-class youth, as evidenced by one masked activist’s placard on Saturday reading: “five years of study, a diploma and now nine rejections a day.” There also appears to be some overlap with pro-Palestine movements radicalized by the Gaza conflict, with Palestinian flags seen among both violent and non-violent protesters.
The government attributes a significant portion of the new recruits to the ultra-left to LFI comments justifying the lycée protests since September. The refusal of Mélenchon and Panot to condemn even the worst of the violence last weekend further supports the government’s view.
Looking ahead, further violence this Saturday and on November 5th is considered inevitable. The government plans to deploy more police and some troops, which is expected to result in less severe riots and looting. However, any continued explosions of violence are likely to further humiliate the discredited center-ground of French politics during the “dying days of Macronism.”
A first opinion poll conducted since Saturday’s events indicates that the unrest has further increased Marine Le Pen’s lead in the upcoming spring presidential election. Mainstream candidates, such as former centrist Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, are suffering by association with President Macron, while Jean-Luc Mélenchon's standing rose slightly. The ongoing violence is seen as pushing France closer to political polarization between its extremes, with the ultra-left protesters inadvertently bringing the country closer to rule by the very Far Right they detest. Their anticipated response next May, should the Far Right enter the Elysée Palace, is predicted to be “more violence.”
Two things conspired to make the weekend’s violence the worst I can remember in 30 years of covering France.
The remains of the Gilets Jaunes movement in 2020 was partly violent and far left. They probably joined in.
