The international media were stunned by the scenes of “chaos” which punctuated the day of mobilization this Saturday. Photos and videos of looting and clashes with the police, town hall of the city of Limoges ravaged by flames… Images of the “biggest riots in years”, as the New York Times describes them, are widely relayed by numerous publications.
“Demonstrations often degenerate into chaos on the sidelines of processions and turn into clashes with the police in France,” points out the Financial Times. But, this time, “the level of looting and violence worries many people”. For the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, this “chaos which, on October 17, has especially spread to the country's large cities will undoubtedly remain a caesura, a signal” and “the government also has its share of responsibility”.
“Long contained” anger
Despite the room for maneuver restricted by the country's financial situation, a number of publications point to the "lack of empathy" of an executive which has failed to respond to the expectations of high school students, mobilized for a month for better teaching conditions, nor to the concerns of the French regarding the cost of living. For CNN, “the demonstrations have become a symbol of long-suppressed intergenerational anger among people who believe their calls for social and political change remain unanswered.”
In Iran, whose authorities are accused of having bloodily suppressed a vast protest movement last winter, state television did not fail to see in “the violent repression of children whose only demand is access to school and respect for their rights the true nature of those who claim to be democracy”.
“The death certificate of macronism”
The demonstrations and their excesses also mark, according to the New York Times, the end of the reign of Emmanuel Macron, who cannot represent himself “after a decade in power which ended up being defined by political crisis and economic stagnation”. “At a peak of unpopularity, Emmanuel Macron ends his second term without a majority and without succession,” judges the Swiss daily Le Temps, which sees a “endless twilight”.
For the Spanish daily El Pais, October 17 “signed the death certificate of Macronism” and “the disappearance of a political idea which intended to establish ideological centrality and contain the rise of extremes”. Instead, the duel between far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and radical left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, both leading the polls in the first round of the presidential election, is taking hold.
In a country “more fractured than ever, “the far right finds itself at the gates of the Élysée for the first time since the Second World War,” writes El Pais. “These outbursts of violence only benefit the extremist parties,” says the Süddeutsche Zeitung, according to which “Jean-Luc Mélenchon believes he has the best chances if the country is maximally polarized. For its part, the far right of Marine Le Pen also benefits from this situation.”
Political recovery
Certain foreign leaders have also not failed to seize the violence in France for domestic political purposes. American Vice President JD Vance estimated on Saturday that immigration was the cause and accused the Democratic opposition of wanting the same “future” for the United States, two weeks before legislative elections that are off to a bad start for the Republican Party. “Western progressives imported the third world to France and other countries in the name of diversity and compassion. They have neglected the fundamental questions of assimilation and compatibility. They were told it would end like this and they didn’t listen,” he wrote on X.
“France is burning!” The immigration of people from a completely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has broken this once great country,” Donald Trump added on Sunday on his Truth Social platform. “Close your borders and take back control, before it’s too late!” “, he added.
Same tone for Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar, for whom “in light of this senseless destruction and this unjustifiable violence, it is now perhaps clear to everyone why Hungary advocates the strictest possible measures in terms of migration”. They see it as a sign of the twilight of macronism and the onset of a duel between the extremes six months before the presidential election.
