President Emmanuel Macron admitted on Monday that his government was caught flat-footed by the outburst of violent riots earlier this month accross France, which threaten to continue for the foreseeable future.
The so-called “Act II” demonstrations on October 17th in France, in which widespread looting and rioting took place as far-leftist groups converged with youths from ethnic minority enclaves, resulted in rampant destruction and injury, with around 2,400 arrests, nearly a thousand police officers, firefighters, and gendarmes injured, and an estimated 3,000 businesses impacted. The riots also saw an alleged far-left arson terror attack which resulted in the destruction of the 143-year-old City Hall in Limoges. According to the liberal think tank Fondation iFRAP, the riots on October 17th and 18th alone likely cost around €1.1 billion ($1.2bn) to the government and private businesses.
Mayors across the country were deeply critical of the federal government’s performance during the riots, which occurred following weeks of youth revolt unrest over supposed complaints about the education system. The mayor of Limoges, Guillaume Guérin, sensationally claimed that the National Police force dispatched to his city had run out of ammunition during the attack on the city hall, providing alleged far-left terrorists free rein of the building for nearly an hour.
More than a week after the fateful events, and after another weekend of riots which saw dozens of police injured and over 1,300 rioters arrested, President Emmanuel Macron finally admitted that his government had failed to properly prepare for the unrest.
Speaking to reporters during a visit to Marseille on Monday, where far-leftists also vandalised the local City Hall, Mr Macron said per the 20minutes newspaper: “We hadn’t anticipated what was going to happen at all… It’s absolutely true that in Marseille, as elsewhere, there weren’t enough police forces (on October 17).”
However, true to form, Macron still sought to deflect blame elsewhere, this time claiming that social media was a principal culprit for the riots, saying such platforms are “damaging our democracies.”
“They were used, especially on the 17th, to bring young people and older people to the scenes of delinquency, attacks, and looting,” the president argued, claiming that online there is a “great deal of confusion, a kind of permanent agitation that is taking place, a fascination with violence.”
Previously, Macron had blamed the “ultra-left” for sowing chaos and even U.S. President Donald Trump for supposedly sparking the energy crisis in Europe with the conflict in Iran, while ignoring the role that his mass migration policies have played in creating a disaffected underclass willing to engage in wanton violence and destruction.
