France's Far Right Seizes on Football Riots to Push Immigration and Security Agenda

PARIS — France’s far right is trying to capitalize on a wave of outrage that followed football rioting across the country, as the sport takes center stage for the next seven weeks.

Wild celebrations in the wake of Paris Saint-Germain’s victory in the UEFA Champions League final descended into violence on Saturday night, much of it driven by groups of youths from the capital’s poorer suburban districts.

The outbreak of violence has heightened concerns about potential unrest during the World Cup, which kicks off in North America later this month. France, as well as Algeria and Morocco — countries with complex and often fraught relationships with their former colonial power — have qualified for the tournament, increasing the risk of tensions spilling over.

Far-right National Rally President Jordan Bardella slammed “scenes reminiscent of civil war,” caused by “predators” who smashed up shops and clashed with the police at the weekend. “I tell the French: Wake up because soon they will [be] breaking into your apartments,” Bardella added, as he attacked perpetrators of the disorder.

The National Rally leader, who is currently leading in opinion polls ahead of next year’s presidential election, laid the blame on France’s population of immigrant descent, which includes people who “are physically in France, but whose spirit and heart is elsewhere,” he said.

For the French far right, the violence is a golden opportunity to return to its strongest themes of security and immigration after floundering in recent weeks over economic policy. Bardella and party stalwart Marine Le Pen have appeared to clash over how best to reform France’s state pensions and how the government should respond to the energy crisis.

The outbreak of violence was also an opportunity for the far right to play up its differences and go to ideological battle with the far left, which called on the police to show restraint. Several recent polls show that far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon could qualify for the election’s second round against Bardella or Le Pen next year.

“If tomorrow we are at the head of the country, we will implement penal and security policies that will put predators out of action,” Bardella said after the violence, adding that his party would remove benefits from parents of young criminals and toughen up sentences for minors.

Nearly 900 people were arrested in the riots, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez on Monday, an increase of 45 percent compared with last year when PSG also won the Champions League.

Calls for mass deportations

Senior European far-right figures fueled the backlash over the weekend, calling for the mass deportations of immigrants.

Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders tweeted “arrest and deport them all” in response to video footage of the unrest posted by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, while Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader Alice Weidel simply wrote “remigration” online, a key catchphrase in the anti-immigration movement calling for the large-scale expulsion of foreigners.

In France, far-right Reconquest party leader Eric Zemmour also called for “remigration” and described the clashes as “the first signs of a guerrilla war [between] civilizations.”

While Bardella and Le Pen were first to blame immigration, they struck a less incendiary note than many European counterparts and distanced themselves from calls to deport legal immigrants, or descendants of immigrants, en masse.

Bardella insisted the violence showed a failure of France’s “assimilation policies” and argued in favor of a crackdown on violence at home and stronger measures to deal with illegal immigration.

“Those who are foreigners and who commit offenses or crimes will be deported, those who are French will face a penal system that has been overhauled,” he said.

But neither did he condemn the harsher comments from Weidel and Wilders, which come after far-right activists, including members of AfD and Spain’s Vox, gathered in Portugal over the weekend to call for mass deportations.

It’s not the first time that National Rally officials have struck a more conciliatory note than other figures on the far right. In the 2022 presidential election, Zemmour led an inflammatory campaign on immigration, raising speculation that he would overshadow Le Pen, who was seeking to detoxify her party after its numerous failed bids to win the top job.

At the time, National Rally officials insisted that the party benefited from more radical voices campaigning on their core topics. And, ultimately, Le Pen got her highest ever share of the vote in her third presidential campaign, with more than 41 percent in the second round.