“Something serious happened”: the mayors of Paris, Marseille and Lyon demand accountability from the government in a forum after the violence of October 17

“On October 17, something serious happened in our cities, for our residents and for the Republic.” The mayors of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire, Marseille, Benoît Payan and Lyon, Grégory Doucet, demand answers from the government, after the violence on the sidelines of Saturday's demonstrations, in an article published by Libération on Monday October 19. They ask to be received by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu.

“Our cities are used to demonstrations and popular expression of discontent and demands,” they write. “However, on Saturday, something unprecedented happened: we had, for the first time, the feeling that entire sections of our cities had been left unprotected.”

The city councilors denounce the looting and destruction of certain districts of their cities. “How could this happen? Who are the responsibilities?” they ask. “Nothing in the meetings that our services held with the prefectural services suggested such a mobilization,” they say, accusing the State of a lack of anticipation, “even though this date was particularly noted and this mobilization was expected.”

The three left-wing men denounce government responses “marked by political considerations”. They are asking for an amendment to the 2027 draft budget, to “create an exceptional national solidarity fund, equipped with resources commensurate with the damage observed”. Emmanuel Grégoire, Benoît Payan and Grégory Doucet also demand "a political response to the high school crisis", arguing that "the response cannot only be security".