Dig a trench for a canal that will run 107 kilometres (66 miles) across northern France and you expect scraps: a stretch of road, perhaps, or a lone farmstead. At Sermaize, in the Hauts-de-France region, archaeologists from France’s National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) found something much rarer. It is a complete workshop, with […]
“Marine Le Pen has reinvented herself. Her style now is more moderate,” reckons Jacques Rupnik, a French political scientist, ahead of the country’s widely anticipated battle for the presidency.
Many voters in France will vote for the candidate they see as having the best chance of defeating the far-right leader, Rupnik explains.
“All polls show that if the far-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon faced Marine Le Pen in the second round of France’s presidential election, Marine Le Pen would win,” he says, explaining that many French votes are unwilling to back Mélenchon.
In his interview with Denník N, Rupnik claims Mélenchon is the first French presidential candidate to seek support from immigrants so explicitly.
Find out:
How Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon have used the migration debate for their campaigns.
Why the presidential frontrunners do not understand economic issues.
Rupnik’s assessment of Emmanuel Macron’s two presidential terms.
Who does Marine Le Pen look up to?
Polls suggest that if France held a presidential election now, far-right Marine Le Pen and far-left Mélenchon would make the second round. What does this tell us about France?
France is divided and polarised. Young people in particular tend to lean towards more radical parties. Establishment parties are old and worn; they have lost their appeal. They have little to say, except for claiming that others are dangerous or worse. But you must bring something new to an election. But after ten years of Macron, that is very difficult.
And it is not entirely true that all polls predict Mélenchon will reach the second round; they often place former prime minister Edouard Philippe ahead of him. Mélenchon is powering ahead in polls because he has launched his campaign and is very good at it. But, nothing is decided.
In French presidential elections there are two rounds. In the first round, you vote for your preferred candidate; in the second, you vote for the lesser evil. So, for most voters, the question will not only be whom they prefer, but also who has the best chance of defeating Le Pen in the second round.
And that is very important. All polls say that if Mélenchon faced Le Pen in the second round, he would lose. Many people are not willing to vote for Mélenchon. A centrist candidate has the best chance of defeating Le Pen, so for now it looks like former prime minister Philippe.
But only if another former prime minister, Gabriel Attal, withdraws his candidacy.
Yes. We have two strong parties at the extremes, and the space in the centre has shrunk. The narrower it becomes, the more candidates appear within it. Every week, another politician tells media: “You know what, I would give it a go.”
Attal, of course, wants to win over Macron supporters — that is, voters on the centre left. The fact he is in the race matters even if he withdraws and endorses another candidate. That may prove a good strategy.
If Le Pen and Mélenchon reach the second round, many would vote Le Pen. Why?
Marine Le Pen has reinvented herself. Not in the sense that she has been thinking about what new ideas to bring forward, but now her style now is more moderate. It is no longer the brash style associated with her father.
Perhaps she took her cue from Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, seeing a candidate whom everyone feared, but no radical changes followed her election because she adapted quickly to European realities.
Le Pen points out that in several European countries, including Finland and Sweden, the far right has been in government and nothing has happened.
At the same time, Marine Le Pen managed to break through a certain barrier, and some moderate rightwing voters have shifted to her side.
How did that happen?
Previously, the moderate right was stronger and Le Pen’s camp was weaker. The type of rightwing voters who voted for Jacques Chirac have now shifted their weigh behind more radical options. The balance has shifted, and right-wing voters are saying: “Why should we, the right, be excluded from politics simply because Macron has failed and the Le Pen has grown stronger?”
Immigration is another reason behind growing support for Le Pen. Mélenchon is also capitalising on the immigration debate, but in the opposite way to her.
Please explain that.
Mélenchon opposes Le Pen’s position by arguing that immigrants integrate. The Le Pen camp says: “No, they have come from a different culture and their attitude is anti-French.” Le Pen’s camp says that integration works poorly, that immigrants do not even want to integrate instead preferring to live in their own communities.
“Mélenchon has therefore adopted the theory of grand remplacement, but instead of presenting it as a threat, he has turned it into a huge opportunity.”
And Mélenchon argues that it is fine for immigrants to remain in their own communities, practise their own religions, for women to wear headscarves and so on.
The great replacement conspiracy theory (“grand remplacement“) should be mentioned since the far right embraced it long ago. It is the idea that the native French population will gradually be replaced by new immigrants.
And Mélenchon now says: “What great replacement? On the contrary, it is an opportunity for France. He says: “The more of us there are, the better.”
Mélenchon has therefore adopted the theory of grand remplacement, but instead of presenting it as a threat, he has turned it into a huge opportunity. Of course, everyone knows what he is aiming for. It is an election campaign, and he is appealing to voters who are themselves immigrants.
Previously, no one focused on immigrants in elections except Le Pen who used them as a bogeyman. And now Mélenchon says: “We are appealing to Muslims.” He says Muslim headscarves are fine and religious symbols are fine. He says anyone who opposes this is racist.
On the contrary, such statements mainly play into Mélenchon’s hands. Of course, calling a referendum on the issue in France is not so simple since such laws already exist. The law states clearly that you can do what you want at home, but if you work in the public sector you must refrain from displaying your religion. There are laws covering this, and there is absolutely no need to devise new ones. Le Pen’s ideas in this regard seem to be mere campaign slogans; we cannot take them literally.
Yet, a major Le Monde poll shows the French are more concerned about the economy than immigration. Immigration ranks fourth, after social issues and ecology.
That is true, but other polls show that, for many voters, the issues of migration and safety overlap considerably.
So, as concerns about security become increasingly prominent, people are more concerned about security and often link it to migration. Marine Le Pen will certainly try to make it one of the key issues, alongside the economy.
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Images of burning schools, buses, and vicious assaults, along with a report of attempted murder, have once again hit France this morning, Oct. 1, as high school blockades mark their second week across France. What began as protests demanding better conditions for students and teachers has devolved into violence at dozens of locations, concentrated at schools with large immigrant populations
This morning, Oct. 1, further clashes, burning buses, and arson attacks have been reported. French news outlet BFMTV is even speaking of murder attempts being carried out by certain students in one incident where the leadership team of one school in Marseille was doused in gasoline. In response, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is convening an interministerial emergency meeting at 1 p.m. to contain the crisis.
BREAKING: Migrant student youths have set fire to multiple buses and even fire trucks in the French city of Marseille as chaos spreads.
The Marseille transport authority, RTM, said several of its buses "were targeted near high schools in the north and east of Marseille,"… pic.twitter.com/hv8tilIB3B
In Marseille, the regional government said an “unacceptable line” had been crossed at Victor Hugo High School, where “the principal, the deputy principal, the general secretary and the team leader were assaulted and doused with gasoline,” according to the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, cited by BFMTV.
BFMTV also reported that a naval firefighters’ vehicle was looted and set on fire in the city. Viral videos also show a bus on fire with numerous Black and Arab youths pelting the bus with stones and dancing on its roof. The Marseille transport authority, RTM, said several of its buses “were targeted near high schools in the north and east of Marseille,” that “drivers had to leave their vehicles in a hurry, and one of them was assaulted.”
The transit authority condemned “these irresponsible acts.” ICI reported that two buses caught fire in northern Marseille and that two buses were damaged near Floride High School in the 14th arrondissement. A dumpster was also set alight outside Victor Hugo High School. Authorities said 40 high schools in the Bouches-du-Rhône department were affected Thursday, and 18 of them were fully blocked.
The regional authority said the violence was no longer a protest.
“Mortar fire at staff, vehicle fires, gates torn down, stoning and intolerable intrusions: this is not contestation, it is delinquency,” it said, according to ICI. “Those who burn our high schools are attacking the Republic.”
BREAKING: Nelson Mandela High School is currently on fire in the French city of Nantes.
Schools across France are being set on fire as student protests and blockades rage on.
In Nantes, the hall of Nelson-Mandela High School was destroyed by what deputy principal Gaëlle Cordier called a “deliberate” fire that spread to the façade before firefighters brought it under control, RTL and Ouest-France reported. The school was expected to stay closed for days, and RTL said the administration expected a closure of several weeks.
The Nelson Mandela High School of Nantes actually just had a major “eco-friendly inclusive” renovation. The building cost €77 million in taxpayer money. However, the all-wooden design, with the interior reportedly designed for “positive energy,” has now gone up in flames. It could cost tens of millions to rebuild.
Despite the threat to life and property, the far-left pro-migration party France Unbowed (LFI) has tried to bolster the student movement, which is now spiraling out of control.
BREAKING: Schools are burning across France as violent student blockades grow. The mayhem shows no sign of slowing down despite 625 arrests.
Oct. 1 Nelson-Mandela high school in Nantes burned, façade and hall destroyed. The school is expected to be closed for several… pic.twitter.com/v1fxbNuWfH
A fire at the private Talensac High School in the city center destroyed the entrance doors.
“The same wreckers everywhere. The same violence everywhere. The same political exploitation everywhere,” Christelle Morançais, president of the Pays de la Loire region, wrote. “No demand to satisfy, just the will to sow chaos and destroy everything. This is not the youth of France.”
Staff have also been repeatedly attacked in other schools by migrant students hunting in packs.
France in chaos: Youths are literally hunting teachers and school staff in packs.
A chemistry teacher was violently attacked and kicked in his back as rioters chase him at the César Baggio high school in Lille, France.
Elsewhere Thursday, the prefecture said the façade of Lumière High School in Lyon’s 8th arrondissement was set on fire, Actu Lyon reported. In Annecy, fires were set outside the Berthollet, Baudelaire and Sommeiller high schools. Firefighters said they were working to keep the flames from reaching the buildings.
The unrest built through the week. On Wednesday, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 356 high schools were disrupted, 625 people were arrested and 83 police officers and gendarmes were injured, in a tally he described as not yet final, Europe 1 reported. Education Minister Édouard Geffray said 119 students and staff had been injured since the blockades began, including 34 staff members. “That is unprecedented in the national education system,” he said.
In addition, the following cases have been reported:
In Wattrelos, in the Nord, a car was driven against the gates of the Émile-Zola middle-and-high school and set on fire Wednesday. The school was closed, and prosecutors opened an inquiry for arson, Le Figaro reported.
In Montpellier on Tuesday, a fire destroyed the caretaker’s lodge at a side entrance of Jean-Mermoz High School and the school was evacuated.
In Bordeaux on Wednesday, a bin fire outside Gustave-Eiffel High School spread to the façades of two houses across the street, and firework mortars were fired toward the school, ICI reported. Ten people were arrested in the Gironde for arson, damage and throwing projectiles.
At Paul-Éluard High School in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, a fire damaged the main gate. Île-de-France region president Valérie Pécresse said replacement, security and cleaning up would cost about €100,000, and put total damage at regional high schools near €1 million, including about 10 gates out of service.
Geffray also cited a teacher beaten in the Nord, a head teacher injured by a firework mortar in the Hauts-de-Seine, and another threatened with death in the Essonne.
As Remix News reported yesterday, Geffray said: “This violence is unspeakable.” However, despite his threats to launch legal proceedings against rioters, the violence has only grown far worse today, Oct. 1.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has called any escalation “irresponsible.” Nuñez has described some of the violence as closer to urban rioting than to a labor protest.
A 93-year-old woman was found dead in her home Sunday after neighbors, with police discovering a 34-year-old Sudanese man naked and lying on her body when they entered after emergency calls from neighbors, prosecutors said. The man was placed under formal investigation Tuesday for murder preceded or followed by rape.
The victim, identified by French media as Marie-Louise and known to some neighbors as “Juliette,” had been bedridden for months after a stroke and could not move without help. She lived in the Minimes district, near the Cité Bourbaki housing complex.
Neighbors called police about 5 p.m. Sunday after hearing shouting, insults and sounds of blows coming from the house. Officers found the front door locked and entered through the rear. They reported blood on the floor and a mattress in a bedroom before finding the woman unclothed and motionless on the bathroom floor.
The suspect was also unclothed and appeared intoxicated, police and prosecutors said. Some reports stated they found the man either asleep or dazed on top of the woman’s body when they entered.
He resisted arrest and injured an officer, according to the Toulouse prosecutor’s office. A breathalyzer test later showed an alcohol level of 0.92 milligrams per liter.
Prosecutor David Charmatz said an autopsy found injuries suggestive of sexual violence, a rib fracture, a spinal fracture, facial bruises and traumatic injuries to the neck consistent with asphyxia. Further tests were ordered to confirm the findings and determine the exact cause of death.
The man was placed under formal investigation Tuesday for murder preceded or followed by rape. Prosecutors asked that he be held in pretrial detention. He had little to say in questioning, and a psychiatric evaluation was planned, according to local reports.
French outlets have given conflicting accounts of the suspect’s immigration status. Some early reports described him as a homeless man living in the country illegally. La Dépêche du Midi later reported that he was a Sudanese refugee with legal status and no criminal record. Investigators have not publicly said how he entered the home. Neighbors told local media the woman often left a door unlocked so caregivers and relatives could get in.
Residents described Marie-Louise as a familiar figure, with one neighbor stating she was “the little grandmother of the neighborhood.” People who knew her said neighbors routinely helped with daily tasks. Flowers were left outside the house as residents mourned.
The investigation is being handled by specialized police units in Toulouse. A judge is expected to decide on the next legal steps in the case as forensic and toxicology results come in.
French police detained 440 people, most of them minors, on Tuesday as high school blockades that began last week around Paris spread nationwide and, in several cities, gave way to clashes, arson and vandalism.
Images and videos of the violence rapidly spread on social media, including harrowing videos of teachers and staff being hunted by students. One video of a school staff member from the Stéphane Hessel High School, who was attacked while trying to extinguish a dumpster fire.
JUST IN: A White male staff member at Stéphane Hessel High School is viciously attacked while trying to extinguish a dumpster fire.
The violent blockades at French schools coincide with nationwide public-sector union strikes that are paralyzing the country.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told BFMTV that about two-thirds of those detained were placed in police custody, mainly on suspicion of property damage or assaulting officers.
Forty-eight members of the security forces were injured, he said. “Violence is never legitimate. There is nothing that justifies violence,” Nuñez added, describing the police response as “extremely proportionate.”
Education Minister Édouard Geffray said at least 10 school employees were hurt and that the Education Ministry had counted 31 injured students and staff in all. Among the cases he cited were a teacher beaten in northern France, a principal struck by a firework mortar in Hauts-de-Seine, west of Paris, and another principal in Essonne who received a death threat.
“Legal proceedings have been initiated against these actions. This violence is unspeakable,” Geffray wrote on X.
Aujourd’hui, au moins 10 personnels de l’Éducation nationale et plusieurs élèves ont été blessés, notamment par des tirs de mortier.
Les premiers sont des fonctionnaires, qui servent l'intérêt général et le service public. Les seconds sont des élèves que nous avons tous les…
He said the right to demonstrate “cannot serve as an excuse for such actions” and warned that anyone who “legitimizes them or calls for the expansion of the blockades in this context puts our students and public sector employees in danger.”
The ministry stated that protests or disruptions affected 416 schools during the day — out of about 3,700 lycées nationwide. By evening, 338 sites were still affected, including 45 fully blocked and 46 facing attempted blockades.
The main high school union, the Union Syndicale Lycéenne, put the number of blockaded schools far higher, at about 400, and called students to join a nationwide public-sector strike already planned for Tuesday.
Arrivée de la manifestation sur la Place de la Nation à Paris.
The movement started last week in the Paris suburbs, with students citing teacher shortages, overcrowded classes, poorly maintained buildings, and sweltering classrooms during this year’s heat waves. On Monday, authorities reported 164 detentions and disruptions at 180 schools. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu called any further escalation “irresponsible,” while saying “the difficulties of high schools must be heard and addressed.”
Scenes in several cities went well beyond sit-ins. In Lille, masked youths set trash bins and bicycles alight outside Lycée César Baggio, smashed bus shelters and pulled down a traffic signal as police fired tear gas. Similar confrontations were reported in Nantes, where students stacked bins across the gates of Lycée Gabriel Guist’hau, and at Lycée Arago in Paris, where a small group faced a police line.
Officials said hydrochloric acid was thrown at officers in seven incidents.
Tuesday’s school unrest coincided with a one-day strike by civil servants, including teachers, firefighters and hospital staff, two days before Lecornu is due to present the draft 2027 budget.
Unions said they were fighting a proposed freeze in the public-sector pay index, the fourth in a row, and a broader €54 billion ($63 billion) savings plan as France’s debt and deficit remain under pressure.
Unions claimed hundreds of thousands marched nationwide against the pay freeze.
Education Minister Geffray has accused lawmakers from the hard-left France Unbowed party of encouraging students to expand the blockades. Party leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon called the teenagers “harmless” and denounced what he termed a “ferocious” crackdown with “an unmistakably racist undertone.”
Another round of blockades could come n Thursday, when the budget text is expected.
Hiver 1940. Exilés de force, plusieurs centaines d'« Annamites » débarquent en Dordogne. Ils seront quatre mille au total, sur les vingt mille « travailleurs indochinois » envoyés pendant la seconde guerre mondiale en France, à trimer dans la poudrerie de Bergerac puis à endurer les baraquements du camp d'internement de Creysse. Intrigué, à la suite de la découverte d'un fonds photographique hors norme, le journaliste et historien Pierre Daum mène l'enquête. Dans ce beau livre illustré, il révèle comment ces « ouvriers utilisables à l'arrière du front », enrôlés comme « main-d'œuvre indigène », accomplissent toutes sortes de tâches : mélange des poudres, vendanges… et, ce qui mobilise plus d'un millier d'hommes sur trois ans, l'assainissement de la vallée des Beunes. La Libération marque le début de la contestation, accentuée par la guerre d'Indochine qui commence fin 1946. Dans les camps, des slogans fleurissent : « Vive l'indépendance du Vietnam ! » Il faudra néanmoins attendre 1948 pour les premiers rapatriements. L'ouvrage, saisissant, fait partie d'un vaste projet comprenant une exposition, un film et un mémorial.
« Terroristes, c'était ainsi que l'on nommait les gars du maquis », chante Céline Girault. Avec le metteur en scène de théâtre Philippe Chuyen et sept jeunes en insertion issus de missions locales, le cinéaste se met, quatre-vingts ans plus tard, dans les pas de Gleb Sivirine, alias lieutenant Vallier, à la tête d'une troupe de très jeunes maquisards. Le journal de bord du résistant, son Cahier rouge (aux éditions Parole), sera suivi à la lettre jusqu'à sa représentation théâtrale, dans le strict respect de la temporalité du maquis Vallier (six mois, de février à août, en 1944 pour les résistants, en 2024 pour les comédiens). Des gorges de la Siagnole à la presqu'île de Giens en passant par le Verdon et Canjuers, on suit les apprentis comédiens qui vivent au jour le jour cette évocation, jusqu'au village de Collobrières, que d'autres jeunes, apprentis soldats, ont libéré huit décennies auparavant. En un crapahutage mémoriel dans les sentiers périlleux du Haut-Var, de bergeries en grottes, la troupe, un peu foutraque mais fidèle, fait revivre l'histoire d'une très modeste armée de l'ombre attendant désespérément un débarquement libérateur.
Former French MEP Rachida Dati is facing intense scrutiny following allegations she took lobbying money from French energy giant GDF Suez/Engie during her time at the European Parliament, on top of a separate investigation into her ties with French car maker Nissan-Renault.
The 60-year-old, who was born to Arab parents and started out as a maid, is also a former French culture and justice minister, and now mayor of the affluent 7th arrondissement in Paris.
But she also risks wearing a police ankle-bracelet and faces four years in prison in ongoing trials into her ties with the French companies, which first hit the headlines in 2025.
And back in 2014, when she sat in the European Parliament on the benches of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) group, she threatened to sue EUobserver because we asked her about GDF Suez, which later changed its name to Engie, while deriding the corruption allegations against her as racist slurs.
EUobserver has published below some of the related email correspondence for the sake of transparency:
Dati email from 15 Apr 2014
“Rachida Dati will not hesitate to sue any media which will report such a defamatory statement,” her office also said in an email in 2015, after a German Green MEP, who was spearheading an ethics committee, said she was likely pocketing GDF Suez money.
Dati email from 15 June 2015
The allegedly “defamatory statement” had been made by Gerald Häfner, a former German MEP, who had chaired the parliament’s advisory committee on its Code of Conduct.
Häfner’s supposedly offensive words were:
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The popularity of French President Emmanuel Macron and his prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has plummeted due to the ongoing fuel crisis, BFMTV reports, citing a poll conducted by Odoxa-Mascaret for the online broadcaster Public Sénat and regional media.
The French president’s approval rating has fallen to a historic low of just 18 percent. That is a decrease of as much as 7 percentage points from the end of June.
At the same time, support for the French prime minister fell by 8 percentage points. Currently, 24 percent of the French consider him a good head of government.
The poll shows that 75 percent of respondents in France believe the government’s announced expansion of assistance for frequent long-distance drivers is insufficient. Sixty-two percent argue that the government should allocate more resources to solve the problem, despite France’s budget deficit.
Le Pen wins the French presidential election
A poll conducted for radio station RTL shows that if Marine Le Pen faced Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the candidate of the far-left La France Insoumise party, in the second round of the French presidential election, she would receive 69 percent of the vote and Mélenchon 31 percent.
The poll shows that Le Pen is well poised to crush the far-left contender.
If Marine Le Pen faced Édouard Philippe, the candidate of the centre-right Horizons party, in the second round, she would receive 57 percent of the vote and Philippe 43 percent.
In both scenarios, Marine Le Pen’s lead is larger than in previous similar polls.
For a candidate that has been convicted and attacked for years by the French establishment media, Le Pen’s turnaround is incredible.
The study also shows that in the first round, under various candidate scenarios, Marine Le Pen would come first if the election were held now, with 35 to 36 percent of the vote.
The first round of the French presidential election will take place on April 18, 2027 and the second round on May 2. The election will end 12 days before the end of Emmanuel Macron’s second and final presidential term, which ends on May 14.
The RTL poll was conducted between September 22 and 24 among a sample of nearly 2,000 people .
A 93-year-old disabled woman, who neighbors described as “the little grandmother of the neighborhood,” was found dead inside her small house in Toulouse on Sunday afternoon. Inside the home, police arrested a naked Sudanese illegal migrant in his 30s, according to French media reports.
Neighbors in the Minimes district, behind the Cité Bourbaki housing complex, called police after hearing prolonged screams and insults coming from the house of the woman, identified by local media as Juliette.
Officers arrived about 5:00 p.m. Sunday and found her body inside. The Sudanese migrant was subsequently removed from the residence, with neighbors telling the press that he was naked and fighting with officers as they tried to restrain him.
One officer was injured in the shoulder, according to accounts given to La Dépêche du Midi and confirmed by the Toulouse prosecutor.
Toulouse prosecutor David Charmatz said the suspect was “in an altered state,” according to witnesses at the scene, and that police subdued him only with difficulty.
A homicide investigation was opened. Charmatz’s office sent a duty magistrate to the scene to oversee detectives and speak with family members who arrived later in the evening.
Police technicians and investigators from the organized and specialized crime division remained at the house for hours. Additional charges could be added as the inquiry proceeds, local reporting said. The precise cause and circumstances of the woman’s death had not been publicly detailed Monday.
Residents described Juliette as a longtime fixture of the street.
“She was the little grandmother of the neighborhood,” one neighbor told La Dépêche, still in shock.
A man in his 30s who lives next door said, “It’s awful. She saw me being born. We used to do her shopping.”
A frightened resident who called emergency services said the shouting “kept going” and that she did not immediately understand where it was coming from.
A French social media influencer known for her criticism of Islam and immigration said a cashier at a Carrefour supermarket called her a “dirty whore” and a “racist” while she was checking out, according to her account of the encounter.
Mila Orriols posted a video Friday of a tense exchange at a Carrefour City store on Rue de la République in central Lyon. In the footage, Orriols tells the employee that she does not bother people while she is at work and that she will speak to his supervisor. As she leaves, she says, “We get revenge every time. Good evening.”
French media that reviewed the video reported that the alleged slurs were not clearly audible, though the employee can be heard using the word “racist” during the confrontation, according to French news outlet LyonMag. Orriols said the employee recognized her before insulting her, at which time she began filming.
Remix News produced a video about the encounter with English subtitles, however, Orriols’ original video garnered over 9 million views on X.
A supermarket employee called French right-wing activist Mila a "dirty whore" and a "racist," while she was at the checkout, according to her account.
The incident happened at a Carrefour supermarket in Lyon.
The company has not publicly commented on whether it will discipline the employee. Carrefour did not immediately respond to inquiries from French news outlets.
Orriols first drew national attention in 2020, when she was 16, after posting videos criticizing Islam. She received tens of thousands of online death threats and hate messages, was forced to leave school and lived for a time under 24-hour police protection. Several people were later convicted in connection with the threats.
She has said she no longer wants constant police protection, arguing she would rather live freely even if it means a shorter life.
Orriols remains a polarizing figure in France and has faced her own legal proceedings over comments French courts have deemed racist. In December 2025, a Lyon court convicted her of a racist insult over a social media post.
Her post from 2024 on X read: “I’ve noticed that many people with a background of inbreeding have very small foreheads. A huge part of families from North Africa are inbred, and many of them have misshapen and quite ugly faces, as well as very small foreheads. This especially applies to the twisted immigrants who attack us on the street every day.”
She deleted the post 10 minutes after writing it, but someone took a screenshot and filed a complaint.
French feminist activist Mila is being prosecuted for "racist insults" for saying many North Africans are inbred and many have "quite ugly faces."
Her post from 2024 read: "I've noticed that many people with a background of inbreeding have very small foreheads. A huge part… pic.twitter.com/3ITmvabUlD
Following the trial, Mila remained defiant, stating that she regrets the form of her comments, but not their content. She also said that scientific studies support her claim that North Africans have high rates of inbreeding.
Le pape Léon XIV a prononcé lundi un discours au centre des congrès Robert-Schuman de Metz dans lequel il a estimé que l'on ne pouvait parler d'Europe sans évoquer le christianisme, tout en dénonçant les "massacres inutiles" liés au retour de la guerre sur le Vieux Continent. La journée a ensuite donné lieu à un dernier tour en papamobile au milieu de milliers de fidèles et à une messe à la cathédrale Saint-Étienne, en présence d'Emmanuel Macron. Voici le fil du 28 septembre 2026.
Pour le dernier jour de visite en France, le pape Léon XIV se rend lundi à Metz, notamment pour célébrer la construction européenne comme source de paix. Le président français Emmanuel Macron assistera à la messe à la cathédrale Saint-Étienne.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi has said NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s admission that some 5,000 sorties were flown from European bases in support of US military aggression against Iran proves that Europe formed part of the infrastructure of that aggression.
In a post on X on Thursday evening, Gharibabadi wrote that the NATO chief’s remarks demonstrated Europe’s role in enabling the illegal US campaign.
“Governments that placed their territory at the disposal of the United States cannot evade their responsibility,” he said. “This participation will not go unanswered.”
Rutte has repeatedly acknowledged that thousands of US military flights, between 4,000 and 5,000, departed from bases in Europe during the US-Israeli war of aggression against the Islamic Republic, which began on 28 February.
He described Europe as a “platform of power projection” without which Washington could not have conducted the operation.
Countries including Italy, Romania, the United Kingdom, France and Germany were cited in connection with the use of bases, airspace, tankers and logistics.
Iran has consistently described the US-Israeli assault as an unprovoked act of aggression in flagrant violation of the UN Charter and international law.
Tehran has stressed that providing territory, bases or infrastructure to an aggressor state itself constitutes participation in the act of aggression, as recognized under United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi separately warned European officials in New York of the severe and long-term consequences of facilitating and supporting US and Israeli war crimes, both in Gaza and against Iran. He noted that submitting to a bully never satisfies that bully.
MOSCOW – Hackers from the United States, France and Singapore attempted to disrupt the remote electronic voting process during the recent State Duma elections, with malicious web traffic originating from IP addresses in over 30 countries, including the UK and Ukraine, Russia’s largest digital services provider Rostelecom said on Friday.
“The most intense attacks originated from networks in unfriendly countries. Malicious traffic came from IP ranges in more than 30 countries, including the UK and Ukraine. Notably, the US, France and Singapore were identified among the primary sources of attacks on the electronic voting infrastructure,” the statement read.
Rostelecom maintained secure communication channels and infrastructure at polling stations during the three-day voting period last week. It set up video surveillance across 89 regions and ensured the cybersecurity and uninterrupted operation of the federal remote electronic voting platform.
Tech experts repelled more than 3,000 waves of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks reaching speeds of up to 1.7 Tbps, blocked over 170 million malicious attempts targeting web services, and prevented unauthorized access to the infrastructure. Efforts focused primarily on preventing voting results from being altered or disclosed prematurely.
The intensity and volume of the attacks exceeded those seen during the previous electoral process in 2024, Rostelecom said. The primary targets were e-government systems, including the Unified System of Identification and Authentication (ESIA) and the Gosuslugi state service portal, as well as Rostelecom’s infrastructure, the remote electronic voting (DEV) system, and the Central Election Commission (CEC).
A 30-year-old English instructor of Algerian nationality was taken into police custody Tuesday on suspicion of rape, sexual assault and violence against boys and girls ages 3 to 5 at a private Catholic nursery school in Paris, according to sources close to the investigation. More than 20 complaints have since been lodged in the case.
The man, identified as Yasser G., worked for the Cap English Institute and taught introductory English sessions at École Saint-Laurent in Paris’s 10th arrondissement. The Paris judicial police’s Brigade for the Protection of Minors opened an investigation in early July after parents of a 3-year-old girl filed a complaint, according to BFM TV.
Attorney Hugo Latrabe confirmed his client was in custody.
11 staff members are accused of sexual assaults and rapes at the Saint-Dominique nursery school, in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France.
"Look at that school behind us, that’s the school where my 3-year-old daughter was raped by several after-school care staff members,"… pic.twitter.com/unvnP8SUjM
The alleged acts occurred during 30-minute English-language classes for children. Since a 2019 education law, French kindergarten students may receive early language lessons. The instructor entered the school alone, taught small groups in a first-floor “yellow” room without the regular classroom teacher present, and left around 10:45 a.m.
The case comes amid a broader series of investigations into alleged abuse by staff at Paris-area nursery and after-school programs, which Remix News has previously reported on.
The first girl told her parents the teacher was “mean” and had touched her private parts. The family alerted school officials through the École Directe app on May 11. In an email to parents that was later obtained by reporters, management referred to “a filing of a complaint for alleged serious facts in the context of English interventions in kindergarten.” It said “all steps taken with the judicial authorities” had been initiated and that “the alleged person was instantly suspended from all activity as a precautionary measure.” A psychological support unit was also announced.
Parents say the school’s initial response was delayed and inadequate. Management described the first report as “mixed” and gathered children in small groups to ask whether the teacher had been mean to them, a step parents say should have been left to trained investigators. No report was made to the Paris prosecutor’s office at that time, and the instructor was not immediately suspended.
On May 22, the director emailed parents seeking to extend Cap English classes to Wednesdays. Children therefore had about three additional hours with the instructor between May 11 and the end of the school year. Parents of the first girl filed a formal complaint June 22 and notified the school the next day. Cap English then suspended the man and the school reported the matter to prosecutors.
The instructor was not arrested over the summer while investigators conducted child interviews under a lengthy protocol. He had obtained a new position at a management school for the start of the academic year, according to reports.
“We were told not to say anything, not to leak to the press to allow the investigation to move forward,” one mother whose child is not among the alleged victims said. “We are all in shock, we explained to our daughter what happened because the students also talk about it among themselves. Many parents are afraid that the school will struggle and eventually close if the cases are publicized, I believe that this also unfortunately explains the silence. The atmosphere is very tense at school, management communication has been catastrophic from the start. It has to come out.”
The same mother said “drastic measures have since been taken by the new management, no more recourse to external organizations like Cap English, and above all no more hiring of male caregivers for children.” The original director is on sick leave and has been replaced by an interim manager.
Other parents expressed similar anger. One father described “a lot of stress, anxiety… There is a lot of incomprehension.” He said “it’s dramatic that a person was able to act in an ‘industrial’ manner.”
A mother who attended a July meeting said the director repeatedly called the information “mixed,” adding that this “put the parents who were there in a state of irritation even though it’s very clear, a child doesn’t invent things like that.”
Cap English said in a statement published by Le Monde that “one of its former instructors at a private school in Paris has been implicated in serious acts that appear to fall under the penal code.” The company added: “He was immediately removed from all activity with students as a precautionary measure as soon as the school principal informed Cap English of the alleged facts.”
It said required background checks had been completed at the time of hiring “without any information coming to its attention that would have barred him from working with minors” and that it would cooperate fully with investigators.
School management declined to comment Tuesday. The Diocese of Paris, which oversees the Catholic school, did not respond to inquiries.
An African illegal migrant is accused of raping an 8-year-old girl in the French city of Brest in August 2026. He remains in pre-trial detention and has already been issued a deportation order.
The suspect is a 41-year-old man from the Comoros who lives in Le Mans without legal status and was visiting Brest. Prosecutors say the alleged attack happened in an apartment after the child’s mother had left. The girl also described a similar incident earlier in August.
The young victim and her mother went to the Brest police station on August 29, 2026 to report the events that occurred that morning.
According to prosecutors, the man had come to “see friends” in Brest, including a friend at the victim’s apartment. The Comorian suspect allegedly took the child to another room in the apartment when her mother left.
He then undressed her while putting “his hand over her mouth to prevent her from making any noise.” The child then described the man raping her, according to French news outlet Actu.
Afterwards, he “gave her cakes” in order to silence her, prosecutors allege.
After the mother and daughter filed a complaint with police the same day as the alleged rape, the African suspect was arrested.
In police custody, the suspect told police he had “made a mistake” and he had “rubbed” his penis against the little girl, but claimed he did not penetrate the girl.
“I’m not a rebel, I’m not a bad guy, I’m not a killer,” he told police.
While the suspect requested to be released before his trial, the court rejected his request and he remains in pre-trial detention. The Rennes appeals court refused to release him, citing the risk of him reoffending.
He has been charged with rape and sexual assault of a minor and for intimidation of a child to prevent her from reporting the incident.
The Comorian man has been in France illegally since 2021 and was unemployed when the alleged rape occurred. Following the alleged rape, he was issued with a deportation order.
Nobody expects to find a two-thousand-year-old fortification in the courtyards of a working hospital. But that is what archaeologists have uncovered at the Hôtel-Dieu, on the Île de la Cité, the island in the Seine where Notre-Dame stands. The wall runs for about 20 meters (roughly 65 feet) and shows clear signs of having burned […]
L'Azerbaïdjan a gracié le Français emprisonné Martin Ryan, selon un décret présidentiel publié mercredi. Cet homme d'affaires âgé de 38 ans avait été condamné en mars à dix ans de prison pour "espionnage", dans un contexte de tensions entre Bakou et Paris.
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BREAKING: Migrant student youths have set fire to multiple buses and even fire trucks in the French city of Marseille as chaos spreads.
BREAKING: Nelson Mandela High School is currently on fire in the French city of Nantes.
BREAKING: Schools are burning across France as violent student blockades grow. The mayhem shows no sign of slowing down despite 625 arrests.
Nelson-Mandela high school in Nantes burned, façade and hall destroyed. The school is expected to be closed for several… 
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