France burns. The massive social protests that have been organized this Saturday throughout the country, and that in many cities have degenerated into clashes with the Police, with public buildings vandalized and hundreds of businesses looted, have led to 855 arrests in the metropolitan area of Paris alone.
The yellow vests join the protests
In the last few hours, images of the Limoges Town Hall (from the 19th century) completely destroyed, riots and violent clashes between protesters and the Police have been seen. After several weeks of student protests, the student vests have now joined in, which has caused the number of detainees throughout the country to exceed 1,200 and there has been a great rise in political tension.
Alba Leiva and David Gómez reflect on this situation in The World Order and have explained in Julia in the wave that right now, the magnitude of the protests has reached a dimension that it did not have a few weeks ago and that, in addition, it has risen throughout the country. In fact, the CGT estimated the number of people who had taken to the streets at half a million people and the leader of La Francia Insumisa, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, even compared it to May 1968: “He said it had a similar dynamic because it began with student protests and spread on a large scale.”
Delicate political situation: from the end of Macronism to the polarization between Mélenchon and Le Pen
The unrest coincides with a very delicate political moment because in the coming weeks there is a debate on the Budgets, which already defeated the previous prime minister last year, and which may be affected by the powder keg situation in France.
In this context, furthermore, the image of Emmanuel Macron with his wife attending a Céline Dion concert while France was burning has sparked a lot of criticism and the French chronicles already speak of a “power vacuum”: “It greatly reflects the collapse of Macronism (…). As he no longer has the possibility of being re-elected, there is that feeling of a power vacuum.”
“Whether one or the other wins, the protests and unrest can continue”
Because in 2027, France faces the end of Macronism in a very polarized situation. Mélenchon’s Rebellious France has aligned itself closely with the protests, especially with those of the students who demand more rights and more public spending in that regard.
But opposite is a Marine Le Pen whose path is completely the opposite: “majority of cuts, confront the situation of insecurity that exists – and that with this France burning is going to get worse.” International experts explain that we will surely arrive at next year’s French elections with a country that is “very polarized” and in a situation of great tension: “And whether one or the other wins, these protests and this unrest in the streets can continue.”
