Guess Who Was Behind France's 'Spontaneous' Student Riots?

We told you last week about the youth riots that originated in the suburbs of Paris and quickly spread across the country, as rampaging young people set school buildings alight and injured scores of people to protest what they said were the inadequate resources being put into France's high schools. 

We're now learning that those protests were not as organic as they may have appeared, with one particularly damning memo linking at least some of the protests to a far-left political party. 

As RedState previously reported, what began as students protesting the conditions at their schools quickly devolved into arson, vandalism, and all-around chaos and thuggery. Here's Rusty Weiss:

Student protests over teacher shortages, crowded classrooms, and run-down buildings have turned into a brutal lesson in arson as teenagers clash with police across France.

The demonstrations began in the Paris region in late September and spread nationwide, forcing hundreds of schools to close and leaving more than 100 severely damaged.

Barricades and bins have now been set ablaze. 

Student protesters set fire to the Nelson Mandela High School in Nantes, France. Follow Press TV on Telegram: https://t.co/1ymjeeywxb https://t.co/Dh71SAsfpL

— PressTV Extra (@PresstvExtra) October 2, 2026

A grassroots revolt? Not so much, as it turns out.

A memo from the intelligence branch of the Paris Police found that some of the riots were instigated by the radical far-left La France Insoumise party.

The report, obtained by Le Figaro, claimed that members of political organisations such as the Young Revolutionary Communists and the La France Insoumise (LFI/France in Rebellion) party of Jean-Luc Mélenchon may have a “strategy of igniting unrest on the part of the most radical union and political structures to impose their ideas as national elections approach.”

A report from the Paris Police’s intelligence branch has reportedly found that radical presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s far-left La France Insoumise party instigated the youth riots which plunged much of the country into chaos this week. https://t.co/XKTHPJjVq6

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) October 5, 2026

The memo goes on to note that, while the young people showed “a clear desire for disorder, notably through the commission of urban violence, without any specific social demands,” they were "being pushed into these actions by far-left elements identified both within student union structures at Paris 8 University (Le Poing levé, FSE), or Paris Nanterre (FSE).”

Nearly a quarter of the rioters arrested in one area weren't high school students at all and had ties to far-left activist organizations. We've seen this playbook before. 

As of Sunday, Education Minister Édouard Geffray reported:

• 24 schools had been “burned or ransacked.”
• 78 education employees had been injured during the chaos.
• 400 to 500 of France’s roughly 3,700 high schools were expected to suspend classes fully or partly on Monday because officials could not guarantee the safety of the students or the teachers.

Another round of "student protests" is expected to take place on Tuesday.

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