“The government was very clearly failing,” said RN spokesperson Laurent Jacobelli the day after the violence of October 17

“The government was very clearly failing,” denounced National Rally spokesperson Laurent Jacobelli on Franceinfo on Sunday October 18, after the violence which marred the social mobilization of October 17, Saturday.

“We saw that Mr. Nuñez was completely overwhelmed. I don’t even know how this morning, while shaving in front of his mirror, he couldn’t think for a second about resigning because he is completely incompetent to manage the chaos,” points out Laurent Jacobelli.

The RN deputy is not clearly asking for the resignation of the Minister of the Interior but believes that "if he had a form of honor, he should do it because what happened [Saturday] is terrible". To “bring order back to the streets, republican order, we must support our police officers, give them clear orders, not to back down, not to let themselves be attacked, ever,” he continues. He rejects all police violence and denounces the involvement of “thugs” and calls for “dissolving the violent antifa movements, which call for revolt”.

An “accomplice left”

Laurent Jacobelli also sees part of the responsibility of the left in the violence, particularly La France insoumise. He denounces a “left which fuels violence”, a “complicit left”. Also singled out by the government, rebellious presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon distanced himself from the violence on Saturday, insisting that "those who share our fight have nothing to do with the pillaging, the ransacking."