A report by Paris police intelligence found that radical presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s far-left Les Soumis party incited youth riots that plunged much of the country into chaos this week.
More than 5,000 people have been arrested this week after so-called student action riots broke out in more than a thousand high schools across France, with multicultural young people wreaking havoc, committing wanton destruction and wanton violence, including attacks on police officers and innocent bystanders, arson and vandalism.
According to Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, about 85% of those arrested during the riots were under 18 years old.
However, a report from the Paris police chief said other forces were likely behind the scenes, finding “the origins of the movement clearly lie in the manipulation of student union structures and political movements close to the far left.”
Recipients of this report le figaroIt was claimed that members of political groups such as the Young Revolutionary Communists and the France in Rebellion party led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon may have a “strategy of provoking unrest in the most radical alliances and political structures in the run-up to national elections in order to impose their ideas”.
While the students mostly showed a “clear desire for chaos, especially through urban violence, without any concrete social demands,” the police report said, “it was clear that high school students were pushed to these actions by ultra-left elements within the student union structures of Le Poing levé (FSE) or Paris Nanterre (FSE).”
The police report noted that some of the actions taken by youth rioters pointed to the “remote control” of left-wing unions, including the rapid mobilization outside police stations after arresting rioters for mortar attacks, describing such protests as “common for these groups but rather rare among young people.”
Meanwhile, about a quarter of the 40 people arrested detailed in the report were identified as far-left activists who were born between 1999 and 2005 and had graduated from high school long ago.
Prime Minister Sebastien Le Cornu also believes the far left is driving the street violence, and his office said this week that intelligence services believed the riots were “an action organized by the LFI and its far left proxies.”
Rather than back down, LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon seems determined to redouble his efforts. Mélenchon, who took part in France’s 1968 student riots, called on his supporters in a blog post on Saturday to take part in a “third act” of student protests planned for this week.
The 75-year-old presidential candidate claimed that his party’s involvement in on-the-ground protests over the past week was necessary to protect students from police violence.
“Our responsibility is to help and protect our young people. That is why I, like others, have suggested the deployment of ‘white helmets’ or white armbands around and within the demonstrations on October 6, as was done in the past after the death of Malik Usegin, or to protect high school student demonstrations in the 1990s,” he wrote.
Teenage riots have proven costly, with initial estimates of losses in the tens of millions. Valérie Pécresse, leader of the Île-de-France regional assembly, said that “approximately 7 million euros have been lost”. Fabrice Pannekoucke, president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, said his region may have suffered losses of 25 to 30 million euros.
However, the casualties may exceed this figure, with some victims suffering life-changing injuries, including a woman who was burned in the face with a homemade flamethrower while waiting for a bus in Marseille. On Sunday, local prosecutors announced that a 15-year-old was arrested over the incident and “brought before an investigating judge on formal charges of brutal conduct.”
The victim told BFMTV: “I didn’t expect such violence… to see a kid you don’t know, someone you normally talk to, deliberately aim at your face… He didn’t aim at your clothes, he didn’t aim at your legs. He aimed at my face. Why?”