“Chaos”, “determined thugs”, “rot”… The political class condemns the violence of the demonstrations but does not agree on the causes

Eight years later, it was to be the glorious resurrection of the “yellow vests” combined with the high school mobilization to denounce the “high cost of living” in the light of a crucial presidential election. Ultimately this Saturday's demonstration seems likely to leave a bitter taste in the entire political class, unanimously disgusted by boundless violence. Initially, however, the left-wing parties were rejoicing. There were people there. Young people, old people, 550,000 people according to the Ministry of the Interior, 800,000 according to the unions. “In Paris, a dense procession has been marching peacefully for an hour on Boulevard Magenta. Young, active, flooded with handmade signs,” wrote Jean-Luc Mélenchon on X around 3 p.m.

The candidate from La France insoumise then criticized the news channels for continuing to focus on images of rare trash fires or broken windows to the detriment of scenes showing “tens of thousands of people calmly mobilized”. At the same time, Marine Le Pen already denounced the action...