France is, to put it mildly, in trouble. The country faces another day of riots and violence across the country, instigated by student agitators who have been clashing with police. Police forces are using tear gas and water cannon to try to deal with the crowds. The riots supposedly are due to failing conditions in France's universities, including missing instructors, worn-out buildings and classrooms, and overloaded class schedules.
Now, though, things may be about to get a lot worse, and while it's not yet clear who is behind the escalation, escalating it is.
How so? How could things get worse than thousands, even tens of thousands of rioters taking over the streets of one of Europe's major nations? Now, according to a report by the U.K. Daily Mail, protesters are now, through social media posts, being told to "bring knives" and "stab civilians in the crowd." That's not a good sign.
France is facing yet another day of chaos and violence across the country, as police and student rioters already began clashing.
In Paris, police were seen using tear gas and pepper spray on protesters in the centre of the capital city. Riot cops covered in body armour used shields and batons to push back demonstrators.
Over in Rennes, police used water cannons against protesters who had taken to the streets.
French newspaper Le Parisien reported that some inciters are telling their Snapchat followers to 'bring knives' and 'stab civilians in the crowd' outside the Couffignal high school in Strasbourg.
The question here is a simple one: Who are these "inciters," and what's being done about these Snapchat messages? Is there any effort being made to track down the people who are, openly, inciting violence? And are these "inciters" students? Are they even French? Are they in Europe, or elsewhere, like, say, Iran?
The students are gaining allies, whether it be through these means or some other, including France's far-left unions.
Police sources told the newspaper that they had received reports concerning potential violence during blockades outside schools in the French city.
Students are set to be joined by tens of thousands of demonstrators as France's powerful trade unions will join far-Left student protests.
Authorities are expecting some 20,000 to 40,000 demonstrators in Paris today, while they added that nearly 90,000 protesters took to the streets of the rest of the country.
This is a serious problem, one that may not be solved with tear gas or water cannon. Protesters may bring knives today; tomorrow it may be machetes, or even firearms, because as we have learned here in the United States, if a criminal wants a firearm, they will find a way to lay hands on one. And, here's the thing: This isn't just the usual escalation. We have seen this kind of thing happen right here, in the United States, most notably in the "Summer of Love" riots of 2020, when in one notorious incident part of a major city, Seattle, was seized by rebels who were arguably taking part in an actual insurrection; that part of Seattle ended up being run by an armed warlord who, with his gang, seized control of the area's resources.
Could something similar be in the cards for France? How will Paris react to rebels seizing part of Paris, or Strasbourg, or Rheims? Will they send in the army to deal with the insurrection? That seems unlikely.
Here's the onion:
The unrest has erupted with just months to go before the 2027 election to choose a successor to centrist President Emmanuel Macron after his maximum two terms in office.
With just six months before an election to replace Mr Macron, his government and the far-Right National Rally, led by presidential front-runner Marine Le Pen, have accused hard-Left France Unbowed (LFI) lawmakers and mayors of stoking the protests. The LFI denies the accusation.
Of course LFI denies the accusation, and would whether they were actually encouraging the rioters or not.
Even so, there's possibly an opportunity here for Marine Le Pen, who is angling to have her National Rally Party take control of the French government. Fair or not, accurate or not, these riots happened on Emmanuel Macron's watch, and as president, ultimately his name is on the blame line; and it's a lot more useful to not be the party in power when a disaster like this is unfolding, especially when there's an election coming up.
The problem is, there are others who may think they stand to gain from fomenting this unrest, including the millions of "migrants" France has freely accepted, may from North Africa and the Middle East. There is, at present, no evidence of this, at least, none that has been made public; but it wouldn't be any surprise to learn that elements from these groups were involved.
Maybe Napoleon had the right idea. There comes a point in any serious civil unrest like this, wherein the authorities read the Riot Act, then order the crowd to disperse. Bonaparte's infamous "whiff of grapeshot" is a tad on the harsh side, but what France is doing now clearly isn't working. This mess is going to get worse before — if — it gets better.
