French president warns that he will curtail civil liberties to halt unrest
Daily Telegraph 18/10/26
Emmanuel Macron has said public gatherings will be banned to halt rioting if necessary, after French cities were burned and looted.
The French president announced civil liberties could be curtailed in an evening address from the Élysée Palace after government buildings were torched and shops ransacked in nationwide protests.
The central government’s prefects, responsible for upholding law across France, would work with local authorities to impose bans on “certain gatherings when necessary”, Mr Macron said.
He claimed that the source of the unrest was the Iran war, which had raised the cost of living in France. Hours earlier, Donald Trump had blamed Mr Macron’s migration policies for the violence.
More than 2,300 people were arrested on Saturday after protests against the high cost of living and conditions inside schools descended into violence. Almost 1,000 police officers and gendarmes were injured and one protester died after suffering cardiac arrest.
Masked groups set fires, attacked public buildings and looted high-end stores in several cities. In the central town of Limoges, a 19th-century city hall was almost destroyed by a blaze that caused its roof to collapse.
Mr Macron promised harsh consequences for the criminals who were looting and burning, and said they must never be confused with the peaceful protesters. “They will answer for what they have done to the Republic,” he said.
The protests laid bare growing anger at Mr Macron, who will leave office in 2027 after a decade presiding over the country as its economy weakened and debt ballooned.
Political leaders across the spectrum have sought to trade blame for Saturday’s riots in the lead up to the presidential election.
Two hours before Mr Macron’s address, Marine Le Pen said France’s democracy was at risk as she accused the president and the Left of fuelling the unrest.
In a video statement, the hard-Right National Rally leader said: “We are living through a profound crisis of trust and authority that poses a threat to democracy.
“This observation must alert us: our country is caught in a vice, or even taken hostage, between violence and powerlessness.
“We have a Macronist power that is out of breath, exhausted, disoriented, which now seems incapable of doing anything other than commenting on its own impotence, its own downfall, I would even say.”
Simon Schama, the British historian, said that the violence “pretty much clinches [the presidency] for Le Pen”.
Ms Le Pen has positioned herself on the side of those enraged at the cost of living but also condemned the looters, promising to protect the French “from the violence of the extreme Left”.
“France cannot, must not, and will never get used to such scenes. Today, I call on all French people for calm, dignity, and republican restraint,” she said.
The French government has blamed the violence on hard-Left and ultra-Left groups, as well as criminals who it said instigated the looting.
Retailers were ransacked in tourist and shopping districts across the country. In Paris, footage showed shattered storefronts and broken glass littering the streets of Place de la République on Sunday.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in the area, with police using tear gas as tensions flared sporadically.
Fashion houses such as Dior hired their own private security after officers struggled to protect the shops.
Speaking to the protesters, Mr Macron acknowledged there were “legitimate claims about the cost of living and the price of fuel”, which he blamed on the US war against Iran.
“France was not a part of it. But we face the consequences. We share their concern. This concern is shared in many other capitals around Europe,” he said, promising to help secure new supplies of energy to bring down costs.
Mr Macron also called on “all political parties, professional organisations, and trade unions to clearly and unambiguously condemn all acts of violence and call for calm”. He said he would invite young people to “sit around the table with us” and share their concerns.
Jordan Bardella, Ms Le Pen’s running mate, said: “France has been humiliated.”
French authorities and police did not link immigrants to the rioting. They repeatedly attributed some of the violence to “radical far-Left groups” and others.
About 550,000 people took part in protests across France, according to the authorities, while organisers put the figure at roughly 800,000.
Demonstrators answered calls from a labour union, student organisations and activists hoping to revive the “yellow vest” movement, which emerged in 2018 to protest against social injustice.
‘The damage is unprecedented’
The mayors of Paris, Marseille and Lyon, the three largest cities, requested a meeting with the prime minister in the coming days “given the extent of the damage and the seriousness of the situation”.
“The scale of the damage is considerable and unprecedented,” Emmanuel Grégoire, the mayor of Paris, wrote in an open letter.
“Paris is a city of freedoms, debate and demonstrations. It must remain so. But it must also be a city where everyone can work and run a business safely.”
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