“It’s a fiasco”: on BFMTV, Dominique Rizet struck by the violence of the rioters

The images speak for themselves. They reveal all the violence of the great citizen mobilization organized this Saturday, October 17, 2026 in Paris. This violence is unprecedented. To the point that it has almost completely obscured the motivations of the demonstrators, the real ones, the workers, those who gathered yesterday to express their anger against the high cost of living, for the climate, against the defeat of the institutions.

Of these tens of thousands of demonstrators, the media showed very few images. The abuses committed by the rioters, on the other hand, filled the airwaves. Social networks of course, but also continuous news channels, including BFMTV which, around 5:30 p.m., brought in its police justice consultant Dominique Rizet.

In this sequence, the journalist comments on the images of violence. On the Place de la République, in Paris, where paving stones are used as projectiles by criminals, injuring police officers and civilians. On the Champs-Élysées, where the shops are devastated and looted. “Tomorrow morning, I think that France, once again, will wake up with a real hangover. Tomorrow morning, it’s going to be terrible…” he said.

Off microphone, coming out of his reserve, the journalist and writer murmurs in a voice almost from beyond the grave: “It’s a fiasco… What a shame”. Dominique Rizet is not known for keeping his tongue in his pocket. On the contrary, he has a high verb. On October 14, he announced on the same channel that he himself was planning to demonstrate to protect his retirement, in particular.

Providing information gleaned from a territorial director about the number of people expected at this demonstration, he spoke of “a complicated day to assess but calm and measured because social networks have nothing revealing about this type of movement”. He then spoke about the anger of the different professions and in particular that of farmers, explaining “it’s my world, the world of agriculture”.

“The peasant, what does he do in the morning when he gets up? He gets on his tractor which consumes diesel. All day long, he is on his tractor. The price of diesel is terrible, terrifying. In my family, there are people who are really suffering. And suicides, yes, it’s true… So farmers, retirees too, we know what we’re talking about Yves, it’s our turn now,” he said, addressing his colleagues before continuing on pensions and the growing difficulties of the French to make ends meet.

“It’s so concerning, that even us journalists now, we work on TV, we earn a good living, we are impacted. I don't know how the railway worker does it, I don't know how the farmer does it, I don't know how the others do it, because if we start to feel the wind of the cannonball, that means that behind us, there are people who must have been suffering for so long. I blame myself because I didn’t see them suffer,” he still assumed.

The tone of his voice in front of the images filmed by the reporters yesterday was one of discouragement.