La France face aux stigmates d'une journée de chaos "inédite"
Sunday dawned on a scene of desolation in the streets of France's main cities, following violence and looting that overshadowed a mobilization against the "high cost of living", six months before the presidential election.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez reported on X that more than 1,800 arrests had been made in the country, specifying that "more than 500 police officers, gendarmes and firefighters were injured, caught up in these scenes of violence".
In several French cities, hundreds of institutions and businesses were targeted, leaving entire streets littered with debris and the burnt-out carcasses of two-wheelers.
Symbols of the Republic were attacked: In Marseille (south), Lille (north), Angers (west), and Bordeaux (southwest), demonstrators stormed town halls and prefectures to vandalize them. In Lyon (east-central), a branch of the tourist office was set on fire.
In Limoges (central-west), it was the Town Hall, dating from the 19th century, that was "largely lost" in the flames.
Phone in hand, many Lyonnais walk the city's shopping streets early in the morning, immortalizing the countless smashed shop windows and piles of debris on the ground.
"It was like a war," says Jean-Christian, a shopkeeper from Lyon, who took refuge in the back of his shop when the rioters passed through. "They were like animals. We saw them smashing things up, men filled with adrenaline."
In the capital, "entire streets have been methodically ravaged," according to Socialist Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire.
Her first deputy, Lamia El Aaraje (socialist), deplored "a lack of resources" for police to put an end to the looting.
In Paris, 855 people were arrested on Saturday, a "record number," the police prefecture announced on Sunday. More than 500 people are in custody, including 171 minors, according to the Paris prosecutor's office, which reported arrests continuing until around 6:00 a.m.
Although the main procession of 110,000 people took place "without major incident" in Paris, the police prefecture blamed "violent groups, particularly from the far left, who multiplied attempts to block roads, wild processions" and "looting".
After several weeks of high school student mobilization, the organizers of this day of mobilization aimed to cement a "convergence of struggles" with the former yellow vests, against a backdrop of soaring fuel prices.
The demonstrations brought together 550,000 people, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, and 800,000, according to the organizers (yellow vests, high school and university students, employees, climate activists and "antifascists").
"I came to protest against the high cost of living, to say that we are fed up with working for miserable wages and seeing our rents increase all the time," explained Régine Monfroid, an educator encountered in Strasbourg, to AFP.
- "sowers of chaos" -
Faced with a tense social situation as the elections approach and a certain powerlessness due to the lack of a parliamentary majority, the government has promised firmness against those responsible for the disorder.
"Those who have vandalized and attacked prefectures and businesses, and looted even our town halls, will be prosecuted and punished," President Emmanuel Macron assured on X. "We will all stand united against the sowers of chaos, who only seek to destroy our institutions."
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu called it "a miracle that the death toll wasn't higher." He called on Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of La France Insoumise (the radical left), who has been criticized for supporting the movement, to "choose his side" between "that of the Republic and therefore the police" and "that of the rioters."
"The speeches of Jean-Luc Mélenchon's MPs, by legitimizing violence, by considering order as oppression and disorder as a right, seek to plunge the country into chaos," attacked Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally (RN, far right).
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who marched in the streets of Paris, asserted that "those who share" his struggle "have no business being involved in looting and destruction".
Six months before the presidential election, social mobilization is a battleground between Mr. Mélenchon and Ms. Le Pen, who according to several recent polls could face off in the second round.
Mr. Lecornu warned that the financial toll of the damage would be "heavy, everywhere in the country".
The French crisis has not gone unnoticed abroad: US Vice President JD Vance stated that immigration was responsible for Saturday's violence.
Commentaires (7)
Y'a quoi meme?
Il s'agit tous simplement d'officialiser une de nos langues et la langue la plus utile actuellement.
Ce qu'on essaie de vous faire comprendre c'est côté linguistique pourquoi continuer à apprendre le français qui n'est plus utile qu'en France, la Wallonie, la Romandie et le Québec par exemple même en France l'anglais est obligatoire à partir du collège maintenant dans certaines écoles primaires sont même bilingues français et anglais.
Alors que dans les pays anglo-saxons (l'Angleterre , États-Unis, Australie, Nouvelle Zealand, Canada sauf le Québec la langue française n'est pas obligatoire mais optionnelle comme les autres langues étrangères tu dois savoir pourquoi ça,
Dans tous les pays du monde l'anglais si ce n'est pas la langue officielle du pays donc est étudié comme la première langue étrangère après la langue du pays.
Bientôt soixante dix ans après les indépendances on essaie même pas à officialiser une de nos langues nationales et après on prend l'anglais comme première langue étrangère comme en Asie, Europe et partout ailleurs.
Mais non fait si comme nous sommes encore une colonie française.
Pourquoi le Vietnam, Cambodge et le Laos ont abandonné le français pour le remplacer avec leurs langues.
Pour ceux qui disent qu'on a plusieurs langues nationales combien de langues officielles certains pays comme l'Inde ont.
Le mindset Africain est toujours colonisé.
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