Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the great agitator of French politics, returns to the forefront against the background of the student revolt and his call for massive demonstrations on October 6 throughout the country. 62% of French people believe that the student protests over the deterioration of public education are justified, but 78% at the same time believe that the leader of La Francia Insumisa (LFI) is inciting the protests as "an electoral goal" for the 2027 presidential elections.
74% blame LFI for "putting young people in danger" in the violent clashes with the Police that have claimed more than 5,000 detainees in the last week, compared to 38% who believe that there is "irresponsible repression" by the forces of public order, according to the survey by Odoxa and Backbone for the conservative newspaper Le Figaro.
The survey confirms that, despite having the majority support of young voters, Mélenchon remains the politician most hated by the French, considered "aggressive" (78%), dangerous (70%) or populist (63%). Even so, the LFI candidate appears second in the polls against Marine Le Pen with his emblem of "the new France" and has serious possibilities, for the first time after four attempts, of participating in the second round of the presidential elections against the far-right leader.
"Why does a party that is rising in the polls run the risk of reinforcing the majority opposition that exists against it?" asks columnist Vincent Trémolet de Villers in the pages of Le Figaro, in an article titled 'The strategy of the burned schools'. Le Monde also questions the "double-edged" strategy of the LFI leader, accused of "legitimizing" violence and forced to retreat from the direction the protests took.
Respect "combat discipline"
Mélenchon called on his militants on Thursday to respect "combat discipline" and "use non-violent methods." "There is no point in setting fires!" he stressed, after the fire broke out at the Nelson Mandela Institute in Nantes. "We are not going to commit acts that go against the goals we have set for ourselves."
"The change in tone comes too late," replied Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin, after accusing the LFI candidate of "having made extremely violent comments" and of incidentally implicating his number two, Manuel Bompard, whom he called "the firefighter's arsonist."
Bompard, for his part, accused the French Government of subscribing to "conspiracy theories", after the dissemination of a report from the Paris Prefecture (DRPP) which asserts that "Rebellious France and its far-left allies are at the origin of the high school movement."
The first spark of the movement was a teachers' strike in mid-September in Creteil, south of Paris, but the epicenter soon moved to the department of Seine-Saint Denis, considered the bastion of La France Insoumise, with its emblematic mayor, Bally Bagayoko, again in the spotlight. The DRPP report highlights how between September 21 and 25 there were a total of 27 actions in secondary schools, "instrumentalized by union structures and by political movements close to the extreme left."
The slogan 'Bloquons tout' and the strategy of blocking public buildings was in fact already used last fall in the protests against social cuts that preceded the resignation as prime minister of François Bayrou, replaced by the also centrist Sébastien Lecornu. The movement gained strength this week when it coincided with the demonstrations that brought together more than 300,000 people against the new cuts of 54 billion euros in the budget presented on Thursday by Lecornu.
New impetus to the movement
"We rebels do not lead the popular movements," Mélenchon defended himself against accusations of having orchestrated the protests for electoral purposes. "Social movements direct themselves, through their organization and their representatives."
After the weekend's truce, Mélenchon plans in any case to give new impetus to the movement with the call for massive demonstrations next Tuesday, supported among others by the CGT union. "October 6 will be a general meeting point, a starting point," predicts the LFI leader in his latest blog. "The Government has little time to devise a way out of the crisis, although it is not credible that it will be able to achieve it."
"The best thing is to organize to accompany this period of mobilization and political awareness, channeling it towards the horizon of 2027," adds Mélenchon, putting his presidential letters on the table. "The duty is to help and protect our young people."
