Disorder of magnitude: France’s riots

Jason Palmer (0:03)

The Economist.

Hello and welcome to The Intelligence from The Economist. I'm Jason Palmer. Today on the show, a visit to Zimbabwe, where white farmers are returning to the land and the legalese surrounding an AI-driven human extinction. But first...

It's a miracle that no one was killed. France's Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecronneau, held a crisis meeting yesterday in the wake of what can only be described as brazen lawlessness over the weekend. In cities across France, the looting, the rock throwing, the arson was shocking. Last night, curfews were imposed in several French cities, including Paris and Lyon. Mr. Lecronneau said that declaring a state of emergency remained an option if needed. All this from relatively quiet student protests we told you about a couple of weeks ago. A national fuse seems to have been lit, and authorities seem to have been caught flat-footed. And all of it plays into the hands of the politicians at France's extremes.

Sophie Pedder (1:38)

I was in Bordeaux on Saturday to cover the riots, and in the center of the city, it was a scene of absolute devastation.

Jason Palmer (1:49)

Sophie Pedder is our Paris Bureau Chief.

Sophie Pedder (1:51)

There were fires breaking out and being lit on every corner, door fronts being smashed down. There were clashes with the police. It was really a sort of scene that felt almost close to urban warfare. And across the country we saw very similar things. We saw the town hall being set alight in Limoges. We saw devastation in Paris as well, and in Marseille protestors broke into the town hall entrance and knocked over a bus to Marianne which is the symbol of France.

It was, I think, as bad as we've seen for a very long time.

Jason Palmer (2:31)

So who was it that you saw at these riots? Who was out on the streets?

Sophie Pedder (2:35)

Well, I would say there were three different groups, and it's important to understand that in a way. The first, the peaceful protestors, I spoke to students who were worried that things might turn violent, but they just wanted to make their voices heard.

Then there were groups of what are known in France as casseurs, sort of troublemakers. They're wearing ski goggles, they're wearing their heads completely covered, and they are clearly out to cause trouble. When I was walking along the road with them, protesters, they were marching in the opposite direction. One of them was clutching a bottle, and they are well known in France. They infiltrate and join protests when they want to cause trouble. And the third group that I saw were looters. I mean, these look much younger. I would say they were sort of teenagers, probably quite opportunistic. I saw them smashing down Decathlon, which is a French sports retailer, grabbing night trainers and backpacks and just running off. And so I think it's important to see that there was a kind of combination of those three different groups, and it was the latter two groups that made it so violent.

Jason Palmer (3:27)

So with that mix of people on the streets, how did it get so out of control? Who's to blame for it descending into utter chaos?

Sophie Pedder (3:35)

Well, the government has blamed the far left of encouraging and fermenting the violence. The far left and the far right are blaming the government for not putting enough police on the streets, and it does seem as if the authorities badly underestimated the numbers who are going to turn out, and also the level of violence that was likely. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez has acknowledged that the police lost control and he offered to resign, his resignation wasn't accepted, but I think it's a measure of how much there was a sense in the government that they were not in control of the situation.

Jason Palmer (4:08)

When last we spoke to you about these protests, you expected that things would probably get worse before they get better. What is the government doing to make sure it doesn't get worse still?

Sophie Pedder (4:17)

The government says it's doing three things. The first is a tougher legal response. It wants to make sure that those who did the looting end up paying. They want to make sure that the legal proceedings go fast against those who are held in custody. The second is a situation where the government has authorized local mayors and department prefects to put in place local curfews. We saw them in Paris last night and it seems to have helped calm things down. And the third is to help the local businesses, especially the small businesses that lost their inventory, that had their shop fronts smashed up with some support in the short term to try and help them pick up the pieces.