Jordan Bardella has dismissed French President Emmanuel Macron’s televised address on the weekend riots as lamentable, accusing his administration of cowardice and drift. The National Rally (RN) president said on X on October 18 that the Government had nothing left to say to the French and nothing left to propose to them.
He added that it no longer even had the strength to protect them, a reference to the attacks on town halls and the looting of shops across the country on October 17.
Macron spoke on television on the evening of October 18, after chairing an emergency meeting at the Élysée Palace. He said those who had looted would have to pay for the damage and that those who had sought to bring down the Republic would be held to account.
The President drew a distinction between demonstrators with legitimate grievances and those who destroyed and looted, blaming much of the violence on left-wing activists. He promised full transparency over the policing of the marches and asked Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez to draw the necessary conclusions on intelligence and anticipation, before refusing the minister’s offer to resign.
The interior ministry said 2,397 people were arrested on October 17 and that 997 police officers, gendarmes and firefighters were injured, seven of them seriously. Paris police recorded 855 arrests in the capital region, a figure the prefecture described as a record.
About 550,000 people joined the marches nationwide, according to the authorities, while the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) put the turnout above 800,000. The protests were called against rising living costs and fuel prices.
The heaviest damage was in Limoges, central France, where rioters forced their way into the town hall and set it alight. The 1883 building lost its bell tower and much of its façade, and local prosecutors said more than 15 people had been arrested over the fire.
The violence came after weeks of unrest in French schools that began in September, a movement that has drawn in a transnational network of communist organisations, unions and activist media in France and beyond.
Marine Le Pen, the RN candidate for the 2027 presidential election, said on X that rioters had once again spoiled a demonstration held in defence of purchasing power. Bardella, who would serve as her prime minister, said order would be restored for the long term if the silent majority chose it.
The Association of Mayors of France called gatherings outside town halls at midday on October 19. National Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet said she would propose a parliamentary inquiry into the violence and the police response, and five of the largest unions have called a national strike for November 5.
