Left-wing groups backing the huge protests that devolved into chaotic riots in France are regrouping after a period of relative calm and plan to fill the nation’s streets again Saturday.
French officials who reported a sudden quiet Tuesday after imposing localized curfews have pledged a massive police and military response. The Interior Ministry, in a note, asked prefects to ban all demonstrations likely to “disturb public order” Saturday.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu told the National Assembly that the response to the past weekend was “too static and not mobile enough.”
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Interior Minister Laurent Nunez reported that French police had arrested approximately 2,400 people during the protests that broke out Saturday in several cities, with business and municipal losses estimated in the tens of millions of euros from widespread looting and arson. Reports also referenced social media videos of men waving foreign flags at the protests.
Demonstrations across the continent Saturday led to widespread property damage, emergency curfews and police clashes. Investigations found that adult communist and pro-Palestinian activist groups amplified the weekend’s activities in France, building on school walkouts that started last month.
Reports indicated that only 1 in 3 groups was a student or youth organization, including communist youth groups and a Muslim student association. The rest consisted of adult-led communist cells, labor unions, leftist political parties, revolutionary groups and propaganda machines.
Adult French groups involved in the protests include the leftist Yellow Vests and the political party France Unbowed.
Multiple media reports said a Yellow Vest coordination group is now promoting this Saturday’s encore demonstration as “acte II” — French for “Act II.”
The Fox investigation also found support for protesters coming from Tricontinental, CodePink and BreakThrough News.
Other protests in Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Albania and Italy are continuing, with additional marches and actions planned for upcoming weeks.
U.S. and Albanian officials have attributed the unrest to foreign radicals. Others, including the Qatar-based news outlet Al Jazeera, say the protests are uncoordinated.
In a social media post Monday night, President Trump urged French President Emmanuel Macron and other European leaders to “close their borders” immediately.
“They have surrendered their country to vandals who could have never built it themselves, and who refuse to assimilate into their society, but only want to enter the welfare state paid for by hardworking citizens of France, while desecrating the culture that makes it all possible,” Mr. Trump said.
He added: “These people do not love France, or these other countries under attack.”
Far-left and conservative French politicians have criticized the response of Mr. Macron, a centrist who proceeded Tuesday with a planned three-day tour of the Persian Gulf region.
NewsGuard, a fact-checking website that some conservatives have accused of suppressing conservative speech, reported that three viral false social media claims bolstered a narrative blaming “pro-Palestinian and Islamic militants” for the chaos.
The false claims include a narrative that protesters attacked only Jewish shops, an AI-generated video of the Eiffel Tower on fire and an AI-generated video that appeared to show rioters unfurling a Palestinian flag from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
“The users cited the [flag] video as evidence that the protesters were being spearheaded by pro-Palestinian immigrants,” NewsGuard said Tuesday.
Many nations have struggled with rising prices and fewer job opportunities since the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions interrupted the global economy.
Specific issues flagged in the European protests include high rents, unaffordable housing, teacher shortages, underfunded schools, rising consumer prices, government budget cuts and surging fuel and energy costs.
Protests against the Albanian government entered their eighth day Tuesday as the capital city of Tirana remained a violent battleground between masked demonstrators and riot police, sparked by public outrage over a Tirana nightclub fire that killed 29 people.
Protesters have demanded the resignation of left-leaning Prime Minister Edi Rama. On Tuesday, he accused “foreign actors” of stoking the protests, building on earlier comments blaming Russia and Iran.
“This has now been recognized and is becoming a major issue across Europe,” Mr. Rama said in a statement broadcast live while visiting education officials, according to an Agence France-Presse report.
The Italian Cabinet is deploying additional troops to quell similar unrest in Milan. Italian authorities said they detained 271 young people there over the weekend after rioters looted stores and incited violent confrontations with police.
“If you break it, you pay for it,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a video Tuesday, telling Italian parents they would foot the bill for damage their children caused.
In Lisbon, Portugal’s capital, officials cleared protest tents in a predawn raid. A similar tent encampment remained open in Madrid, where teachers were on strike and protesters demanded cheaper housing.
“The situation does not allow for the normal development of institutional activity,” Madrid’s regional government said Tuesday in a statement, as it considered relocating officials away from the encampment.
In Belgium, police detained 150 people and dispersed heavy crowds of rioters from Brussels with tear gas and water cannons. Similar riots had led officials in the eastern city of Liege to ban large gatherings.
Numerous injuries to police and protesters have been documented in reports emerging from Albania, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Portugal.
A European Commission spokesperson warned Monday against treating all protesters like rioters.
Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, condemned all violent protest-related activities in Albania, Belgium, France, Italy and Portugal.
“The best and only way forward is inclusive and safe dialogue,” he said Tuesday in a statement.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
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