“Let’s take the Bastille”: six months before the 2027 presidential elections, the autumn of French discontent degenerates into urban guerrilla warfare with violent clashes, fires, looting and devastation on the sidelines of the authorized (and essentially peaceful) demonstrations of students and yellow vests, who have returned to the country’s squares to call for a better school and denounce the high cost of living. In Saint-Étienne, a young protester lost his hand to a police grenade while the Interior Minister, Laurent Nuñez, denounced “very serious disturbances” during which 60 policemen were injured. Two of them were transported to hospital unconscious, one was hit by a large stone “in an extremely violent way”, he pointed out.
In the République, on the verge of a nervous breakdown six months after the presidential elections, half a million people took to the streets (800 thousand according to the organisers) and over 400 arrests were reported at the end of the day, while the sirens continued to scream in the streets of Paris, which had been put on fire like other French cities, including Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux.
Macron: «In our Republic there is no place for violence»
«In our Republic there is no place for violence. Those who destroyed and attacked the prefectures and shops and who even looted our municipalities will be prosecuted and punished”, warns Emmanuel Macron on “We will all oppose, united, those who sow chaos: individuals who only aim to overthrow our institutions and who prevent those who peacefully express their demands from being able to do so,” added the president at the end of the day. “We will not be intimidated,” the prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, had declared shortly before, accusing “extreme left groups” of having “organised violence in several cities”. «These – he points out – were joined by criminals to plunder and destroy». In Paris, the toll of the violence “will be heavy”, deplores the socialist mayor of the capital, Emmanuel Grégoire, underlining that “entire streets have been systematically devastated”.
Paris, from the attack on CNews at Place de la République
Tensions in the capital began at dawn when around a hundred people with their faces covered attacked the editorial staff of CNews, the so-called “Fox News” from beyond the Alps owned by the ultra-conservative tycoon Vincent Bolloré. In the morning, the police also dispersed several unauthorized demonstrations near the Gare du Nord and the Gare de l’Est (some marched shouting “Louis XVI, on the beheaded, Macron, on va commender», «We have beheaded Louis XVI, let’s start again with Macron») and a little later, in Place de la République, the police resorted to tear gas in response to firecrackers and objects thrown by hundreds of hooded men dressed in black. In the square symbol of the Parisian demonstrations, in addition to a car, a newsstand and a nearby bistro were then set on fire.
Clashes between police and demonstrators also occurred in the Place de la Concorde, not far from the palaces of power such as the Elysée and the National Assembly, an area declared off-limits by the prefecture.
Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux
Guerrilla scenes also occurred in other cities in France. The mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan, announced that he had obtained police reinforcements following a conversation with Macron himself. In the morning, several dozen demonstrators briefly entered the atrium of the town hall, on the Old Port, after breaking down the door shouting “it’s the Revolution, let’s take the Bastille”. A police station was also attacked on Canebière, one of the main arteries of the centre. Tensions between police and demonstrators also occurred in Lyon, in Place Bellecour, where, among other things, the tourist office kiosk was damaged.
The residence of the prefect, Sophie Brocas, who was at the center of the news this summer for her commitment to fighting the fires in Gironde, was ransacked in Bordeaux. She herself condemned “in the strongest terms” the damage suffered as well as the looting of some businesses. In the Girondist capital, at the end of the afternoon, clashes were still being reported between “radical elements” and the police near the town hall. At the same time, numerous shops were reported looted by small groups of masked youths, particularly along the rue Sainte-Catherine. Among the businesses affected are stores such as Decathlon, Intersport, Apple Store, Snipes and a Carrefour Express.
Meanwhile, the Saint-Étienne prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the case of a young man who lost a hand to a police grenade that he picked up from the ground, while Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has called another inter-ministerial crisis meeting to take stock of the situation.