The title of that 1960s movie came from a message Adolf Hitler sent to his commanding general in Paris in August 1944. He wanted Paris to burn if he couldn’t keep it.
Today, the call isn’t coming from the Führerbunker; it’s from inside the house. It’s not Nazis, but the French — and quasi-French — burning Paris and other French cities.
The Louvre museum in Paris, home to the Mona Lisa, closed Monday "due to a student social movement." That’s one way to describe the utter chaos overtaking French cities.
In Limoges, rioters set fire to the town hall, destroying its iconic tower. In Marseille, they broke into city hall and vandalized the interior. In Paris, a video circulating online appeared to show young thugs shouting, "Wallah! Kill her!" and "Dirty whore!" [my translation] at a policewoman they chased and threw to the ground — all while trashing property and assaulting people on the streets.
What’s happening in France is both familiar and new. It’s familiar in that mass protests are endemic to France. They happen every few years when a feckless government tries to balance the books by reforming France’s ruinously generous public benefits. What’s new is the addition of foreign influence and the scale of the violence.
The high-schoolers who kicked off this round of protests are angry about class sizes, dilapidated schools, and access to college. Retirees who joined them say state pensions aren’t enough to live on. Everyone complains about the high cost of living. They all want more state spending to cure their ills.
French protests often turn violent. Torched cars, vandalized property, and looting are common. What has added fuel to the fire this time is the "Casseurs" (breakers), looters, and violent thugs going beyond what was tacitly tolerated in the past. Many seem to be of migrant background, and some carry Palestinian flags or those of the North African countries they or their parents came from.
Videos in French media showed streets of looted stores. Rue Paradis in Marseille has many high-end jewelry and fashion stores, but also many mom-and-pop shops whose owners work long hours for little profit. Dozens of these are now looted shells. Their metal shutters — designed to prevent windows from being broken and stores from being burglarized — lie torn off or broken.
Many of France’s major cities are run by socialists. Marseille’s mayor, Benoit Payan, blames the French government for failing to protect city hall — where his own office is — and local stores. He wants Paris to pay for all the damage. Once again, the French taxpayer is on the hook.
How does this end? Not quickly. The political left is well organized, galvanized, and funded — including with foreign money. We are likely to see more promises of increased spending from lame-duck President Emmanuel Macron, now in the last year of his two terms and unable to run again. He gave a speech condemning the violence on Sunday, but he’s been notably absent as it has unfolded. On Tuesday he stuck with his schedule and flew to the Gulf region.
France has presidential elections next April. Two leading contenders are Marine Le Pen of the right-wing National Rally (NR) and Jean-Luc Melenchon of the left-wing France Unbowed (LFI). Of the two, Le Pen promises to lower migration and limit welfare payments to migrants. Melenchon welcomes mass migration and opposes any reduction in benefits. Le Pen opposes illegal migration, but she hasn’t campaigned on reducing the bloated benefits bill.
But France’s checkbook is tapped out. It hasn’t balanced a budget in 50 years, and this year’s deficit is over 5%. Economic growth is under 1%. Diesel costs about $10 a gallon. National debt is 120% of GDP, and the bond market is getting nervous.
Like other developed countries, France’s fertility rate is below replacement, and the country has allowed in millions of immigrants from its former colonies. On balance, these new arrivals and their children have a lower employment rate than native French, but they get the same social services. Those numbers don’t work, no matter how smart the president in Paris.
Not only is France broke, but it has too few bodies to handle multiple riots at once. France’s national police handle the cities, while the gendarmes enforce the law in the countryside. Both are funded centrally by the French state. Towns have municipal police, but they aren’t equipped or trained for law enforcement, let alone riot control. France has specialized riot-control units, but only so many. The French military is probably Europe’s best, but it is not used for internal operations.
Like France, some of our major cities, New York and Seattle, are now run by avowed socialists. Arguably, administrations in Boston and Los Angeles are also closely aligned with DSA values. And more cities will be in the future.
The DSA wants open borders, nationalized health care, curtailed law enforcement, and higher taxes. If we don’t take heed, France’s present could be our future.
FIRST ON FOX: The State Department warns that antifascist groups are planning to participate in a "potentially more confrontational protest" this weekend as the far-right National Rally holds its political convention just days after widespread riots overwhelmed police and exposed major security failures.
As party leader Marine Le Pen prepares for the gathering on Oct. 24–25 in Orléans, France, an internal document obtained by Fox News Digital cautions that antagonists are planning more demonstrations near the convention venue that could "expose further security shortcomings and deepen political tensions."
The warning comes at a particularly dangerous political moment for President Emmanuel Macron, considering the same unrest that exposed his government's security vulnerabilities could also give National Rally and center-right parties an opening to challenge his record, according to the State Department assessment.
Now, French authorities face another high-stakes security test as demonstrators prepare to converge on the congress of a party that could benefit politically from the previous unrest.
The demonstrations are expected to coincide with the National Rally's two-day party congress, where Le Pen is set to launch her presidential campaign. Left-wing parties, unions and activist groups are planning a march Saturday, while antifascist groups have announced plans for a separate protest Sunday near the convention venue, according to the State Department assessment.
National Rally President Jordan Bardella has ruled out canceling the congress, while local authorities are preparing additional security restrictions around the gathering.
The looming confrontation comes as France is still reeling from the Oct. 17 unrest, when authorities badly underestimated the scale of demonstrations that descended into widespread rioting and looting.
Some 550,000 people joined 110 marches nationwide, according to France's Interior Ministry. More than 2,400 people were arrested, nearly 1,000 law enforcement officers and firefighters were injured and thousands of businesses were damaged. And intelligence failures that far underestimated the turnout left authorities overwhelmed and facing more than double the number of protesters originally estimated.
The State Department's internal assessment notes that the violence has reshaped France's political debate just six months before voters choose Macron's successor. It says the unrest has shifted attention away from the economic and education grievances that initially drove the protests and toward public security and government accountability, potentially giving National Rally and center-right parties an opening to challenge Macron's record.
French officials have acknowledged that intelligence and planning failures contributed to authorities being overwhelmed during the Oct. 17 unrest.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez offered his resignation after acknowledging police "lost control" in some major cities. Macron rejected it, citing the need for continuity in law enforcement command, and ordered "full transparency" over the failures in planning and intelligence-gathering that preceded the violence.
Nuñez has said authorities need to improve their ability to anticipate large-scale mobilizations, putting added pressure on security services to avoid a repeat when demonstrators converge on Orléans this weekend.
And the government may have little time to recover even if the National Rally congress passes without major violence.
Labor organizations are already mobilizing for nationwide strikes and demonstrations Nov. 5 over wages, public services and the proposed 2027 budget, according to the State Department document.
The internal assessment said Macron faces competing pressure to restore order while addressing the grievances fueling the protests, with limited fiscal room for concessions as parliament debates next year's budget.
With parliamentary scrutiny looming and further demonstrations already planned, the State Department assessed that France faces another potential flash point that could "expose further security shortcomings and deepen political tensions."
EXCLUSIVE: The top House Republican overseeing Europe policy is blaming the riots roiling French cities on mass migration, and warning the U.S. could soon follow suit.
Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital that he was not surprised by the violent demonstrations across France — and moreover, argued they were a long time coming.
"They've been allowing this to happen for years and years, so they are reaping what they sowed," Self said. "We're also trying to get a handle on our mass migration consequences, just like France should have done years ago. That's why I say this is a lesson to America. We are watching the future of America in France and the U.K., frankly."
Self is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He is also a co-founder alongside Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, of the Sharia-Free America Caucus.
Democrats have criticized the group as Islamophobic, and it's been condemned by groups like the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations.
But Self doubled down on his beliefs, suggesting France's growing Muslim population is at least partially responsible for the riots.
"They've got, what, 7% now are Muslims in France? And, you know, when you reach that percentage — and very concentrated in some large cities — that gives you the tipping point that everybody talks about," he argued.
He said later: "This is what you get when you think that everyone is culturally and morally equivalent. They're not. And at some point, you have got to make the decision: Are we going to defend a Christian heritage in France, or are we not?"
It comes after multiple days of violent protests and riots across France that have seen stores looted and centuries-old buildings burned and desecrated.
France's secular centrist government has blamed far-left groups for exacerbating tension over high living costs and expensive education, among other issues.
Self argued France was in an open "civil war" and said its military should step in, but was pessimistic that it would.
"There's too much destruction now, so we'll see if they've got the gumption to send in the military. But if they don't, then they're very close to losing their culture in the large cities," he said.
Asked if the turmoil should force French President Emmanuel Macron to step down, Self said, "That's up to Macron. I think it would probably be beneficial to France."
But he maintained the chaos should not turn into a backlash against the U.S.-France relationship — in fact, Self said, the U.S. ought to help France with intelligence-gathering about the protests.
"I think we probably ought to offer them what help we could, facial identification, whatever," Self said, clarifying that he did not mean sending Americans in person. "France is still a very important, very large ally and partner. So we need to do what we can, understanding that, you know, President Trump has tried to get them to step up and do more. But this is not the time to abandon France."
More than 500,000 people took to the streets in various cities and towns across France this weekend. French authorities said 1,800 people were arrested nationwide, with over 800 of those arrested in the capital city of Paris alone.
In addition to photos and videos of French heritage sites in flames, images showing some protesters carrying Algerian, Palestinian and Moroccan flags have led figures on the right to blame France's immigration policies.
The political theater of "Chaos Inc." is preparing for a "rebellion...sweeping Europe."
Two days after an estimated 500,000 demonstrators poured into streets across France and clashes left parts of Paris and other cities burning, French activists are calling supporters back into the streets Saturday, Oct. 24, for a new protest billed as "Acte II," with 212 "mobilizations" currently planned, according to a digital map of the plans.
And a growing number of communist, socialist and hard-leftist organizations are answering another call for a coordinated European youth strike on Friday, Nov. 20.
A Fox News Digital investigation has now identified 101 organizations across 9 countries – including the U.S. – that are coordinating, organizing or amplifying protests in Europe in an expanding protest ecosystem, up from 54 organizations identified on Monday.
Most of the groups are adult-led, with just 33 organizations – or one in three – led by students or youth. They represent a nexus of the "red-green" alliance, merging Islamist organizations that are symbolized by the color green, and far-left, communist and socialist groups represented by the color red.
The network also include groups that proudly use the "Antifa" moniker, like "Action AntiFa16," an organization that describes itself in the Angoulême, France, Acte II announcement.
Across the Atlantic, leaders in the U.S. franchise of "Chaos Inc." are amplifying the protests. University of California at Berkeley academic Hatem Bazian, founder of anti-Israel Palestinian organizations including Students for Justice in Palestine and American Muslims for Palestine, shared videos from the protests.
Revealing the complex threads of the "red-green" alliance, Bazian drew connections between this year's Oct. 17 riots in Paris, explosions at the Al Alhi Hospital in Gaza on Oct. 17, 2023, and protests on Oct. 17, 1961, in Paris by Algerian demonstrators , which led to a bloody and deadly confrontation with police. Hamas officials blamed Israel for the hospital deaths, while Israel attributed the blast to a failed, errant rocket launched from within Gaza by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Bazian didn't respond to a request for comment.
The European unrest is also receiving sympathetic amplification from a network of pro-communist organizations, including BreakThrough News, CodePink and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, funded and supported by Neville Roy Singham, an American-born tech tycoon who lives in Shanghai and has expressed support for "new world order" of the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
On Tuesday afternoon, BreakThrough News is planning an online discussion with a headline that captures how the outlet is framing the unrest: "Europe's Youth Uprising."
"A rebellion is sweeping Europe," BreakThrough News declares.
"From student barricades in France, to Spain's housing encampments, to Albanians marching to save their coastline from Jared Kushner, Gen Z is rising up against austerity, soaring rents, and governments pouring money into weapons and war instead of their future," the outlet said.
BreakThrough News said protests had spread "from Paris and Madrid to Lisbon and Tirana" and announced that France-based journalist Rafael Karoubi would join hosts Rania Khalek and Zoe Alexandra to explain "what's driving the uprising."
In France, organizers are using the website 17octobregiletjaune.net to organize logistics, communication and people for their protests. The domain was registered on Sept. 15 by an anonymous user, according to online records. In the face of curfews and security measures against their protests by French President Emmanuel Macron, website organizers have a new demand: "Macron must leave and make way for the people!"
Leaders are coordinating their efforts in a Telegram messaging channel, where they are sharing logistical details and polished, ready-made graphics.
After "Acte II," they have planned another action on Oct. 31, "Acte III," featuring "yellow vests, demonstrations and roundabouts, all over France," and there are other actions planned on Nov. 5 and Nov. 14.
There are activities even listed for April 3, 2027, ("Noisy spring") and May 29, 2027, ("Day against agrochemistry"). The locations listed: "Everywhere in France."
For the Nov. 20 action, another set of far-left groups are promoting their "International Youth Strike" on a website, calling for coordinated "demonstrations," "walkouts," "assemblies," "actions," "blockades and occupations."
Their manifesto declares that "the exploitation of workers, climate breakdown and war are not failures of the system but the essence of capitalism." In a press release, it says the struggle against "militarisation, rearmament, austerity and imperialism" is inseparable from the economic system supporting it and calls for "radical system change."
The British organization "Socialist Students," which describes itself as building the student fightback for "socialist change," says it will participate in the Nov. 20 strike, "in coordination with 30 other European youth and student groups.
A Socialist Students appeal urges young people to join "a movement for socialist change," while another campaign statement declares: "Our fight for socialism is based on Marxism" and argues that "workers and young people must actively fight and organise."
Peuple RÉVOLTÉ – People in Revolt — PROTEST COLLECTIVE: Organization helping operate the "Acte II" platform.
Maintenant! – Now! — PROTEST MOVEMENT: Civic movement participating in the "Acte II" platform.
Indignons-nous, Bloquons tout – Let’s Get Indignant, Block Everything — DIRECT ACTION: Protest collective promoting "Acte II."
Coordination nationale lycéenne – National High School Students’ Coordination — STUDENT/YOUTH: New national high-school coordination calling students into the streets Oct. 24 for "Acte II."
Angoulême, France
NPA Charente – New Anticapitalist Party–Charente (NPA 16) — REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST: Local NPA chapter mobilizing for Acte II.
Action Antifasciste 16 — ANTIFASCIST: Collaborator on the Angoulême Acte II announcement.
Maison des Peuples et de la Paix – House of Peoples and Peace — ACTIVIST: Angoulême organization collaborating on the Acte II call.
Fanfare en lutte d'Angoulême – Angoulême Marching Band in Struggle — ACTIVIST: Local activist collective collaborating on Acte II.
Révolution Permanente Angoulême — Permanent Revolution–Angoulême – REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST: Local chapter of Révolution Permanente, collaborating on the Oct. 24 mobilization.
Organisation de Solidarité Trans (OST) Angoulême — Trans Solidarity Organization–Angoulême – ACTIVIST / SOLIDARITY: Local organization listed as an Acte II collaborator.
Caen, France
Caen Antifa Squad — ANTIFASCIST: Collaborator on an "ACTE II — 24 OCTOBRE" announcement.
Caen en Lutte — Caen in Struggle – PROTEST COLLECTIVE: Local organization collaborating on Acte II.
Solidarité Étudiante 14 — Student Solidarity 14 – STUDENT: Calvados student organization collaborating on the Oct. 24 mobilization.
NOV. 20 INTERNATIONAL NETWORK
Belgium (3)
Comac — MARXIST/SOCIALIST YOUTH: Belgian youth organization associated with the Workers' Party.
RedFox — SOCIALIST YOUTH: Belgian socialist youth organization.
Vrede — ANTI-WAR: Belgian organization publishing and promoting the International Youth Strike manifesto.
France (1)
Mouvement National Lycéen — STUDENT/YOUTH: French high-school organization identified in the European Nov. 20 coalition.
Germany (6)
Schulstreik gegen Wehrpflicht — STUDENT/"ANTI-CONSCRIPTION": German school-strike network mobilizing for Nov. 20.
Die Falken — SOCIALIST YOUTH: German socialist youth organization involved in the international organizing process.
Linksjugend ['solid] — SOCIALIST YOUTH: Youth organization associated with Die Linke.
DIE LINKE.SDS — SOCIALIST STUDENT: German socialist university organization.
CGIL — LABOR: Italian labor confederation whose Nov. 20 general strike converges with the student mobilization.
Spain (1)
Sindicato de Estudiantes — SOCIALIST STUDENT: Spanish student organization identified in the international network.
United Kingdom (9)
Counterfire — REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST / ANTI-WAR: Promoting the Nov. 20 international strike.
Left Unity — SOCIALIST: Promoting the wider European mobilization.
International Youth Strike — INTERNATIONAL YOUTH / ANTI-CAPITALIST COALITION: The coordinating coalition behind the Nov. 20 strike says student and youth organizations across Europe are organizing demonstrations, walkouts, assemblies, blockades and occupations. Its manifesto says exploitation, climate breakdown and war are the "essence of capitalism," calls NATO an instrument of "imperial interests" that "should be dissolved," and demands "radical system change."
North West Pensioners Association — ACTIVIST: Organizational supporter of the Nov. 20 actions.
Socialist Party — TROTSKYIST: Socialist party promoting the international strike.
Socialist Students — SOCIALIST STUDENT: British organizer advocating a "socialist future."
Universities and Colleges Union @ucunion — The largest trade union and professional association for academics, lecturers, trainers, researchers & academic-related staff in UK "Further Education" and "Higher Education."
Young Greens — YOUTH / GREEN: British youth organization identified among supporters.
Amplifiers (8)
CODEPINK — U.S. ANTI-WAR / ACTIVIST ORGANIZATION: The U.S. organization has explicitly connected the French protests to its own planned Washington mobilization. "From France to the United States, the message is clear," CODEPINK said, before promoting its Nov. 10-12 "Taxpayer Uprising" demanding that federal spending go toward education, healthcare and housing rather than the military.
Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) — TROTSKYIST / SOCIALIST: An international socialist organization whose national affiliates include Britain's Socialist Party and Ireland's Militant Left. Its international website is promoting the Nov. 20 youth walkout under the campaign slogan "Fight for our future not their wars."
International Socialist Alternative (ISA) — REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST: The international socialist organization says "Capitalism means war" and that it "wholeheartedly" supports the Nov. 20 strike. ISA says its members have helped organize Germany's anti-conscription school strikes and describes imperialism as the "highest stage of capitalism."
Party for Socialism and Liberation–Houston — MARXIST-LENINIST / U.S. CHAPTER: The Houston chapter of the U.S. Party for Socialism and Liberation is amplifying the French protest movement.
Progressive International — TRANSNATIONAL LEFT NETWORK: The international organization explicitly grouped the current protests in France, Spain, India and Albania in an Oct. 16 briefing and asked how the "new rebellions" could acquire organized political power. Most significantly, it said: "These are the forces that the Progressive International is working to support and connect."
Stop ReArm Europe — ANTI-WAR / ANTI-MILITARIZATION COALITION: A European coalition calling for demonstrations and actions around Nov. 20 under the slogan "Welfare, not Warfare." It says it supports students "refusing" militarization and calls on social movements, unions, civil-society groups, political organizations and parliamentarians to mobilize around the student strike.
teleSUR English — INTERNATIONAL MEDIA AMPLIFIER: The international media outlet amplified the French demonstrations with Oct. 17 coverage of clashes, fires and arrests in Paris, Lyon and other cities. This is evidence of international amplification.
World BEYOND War — INTERNATIONAL ANTI-WAR: A global organization that describes itself as a movement to "end war" and says it is part of the Stop ReArm Europe campaign. It is explicitly promoting the Nov. 20 International Youth Strike and urging supporters to "join this resistance."
FRANCE — ORIGINAL NETWORK (54)
Organisation communiste révolutionnaire — REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST: Communist organization involved in protests.
Parti communiste français — COMMUNIST: French Communist Party whose leaders and activists joined the demonstrations.
Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Between Peoples (MRAP) — ANTIRACIST: Antiracism organization involved in the wider coalition.
SOS Racisme — ANTIRACIST: Antiracism organization involved in supporting the movement.
International amplifiers
BreakThrough News — SINGHAM NETWORK / MEDIA: New York-based nonprofit amplifying the French protests internationally.
Indian Alliance Paris — INTERNATIONAL / DIASPORA: France-based organization connecting French and Indian protest messaging. Partnered with the People's Forum in Manhattan.
For some French Jews, Saturday's unrest brought an unsettling warning: conceal outward signs of Jewish identity and avoid gathering outside synagogues.
One community member told Fox News Digital that some congregations had even canceled afternoon prayers on the Sabbath as demonstrations across France descended into violence.
Ahead of the protests on Saturday, he said, as a precaution, "Lots of synagogues sent out emails to their people saying, 'We're canceling Mincha on Shabbat afternoon. Please don't go out. It's going to be dangerous,'" Samuel Arrouas, a French Jewish community member who divides his time between Paris and Israel, told Fox News Digital.
Mincha is the Jewish afternoon prayer service. Arrouas, who returned to Israel before Saturday's protests, described his shock over the messages. "I'm 40 years old. First time I heard this," he said.
Arrouas said warnings also advised Jews against visibly wearing kippahs, traditional skullcaps, or tzitzit, ritual fringes worn by observant Jewish men. Worshipers were discouraged from lingering outside synagogues after services. "You go to prayers, and you immediately leave," he said.
Before leaving France, Arrouas said he encountered masked demonstrators carrying Palestinian flags near Paris Dauphine University.
"It's very scary," he said. "When you're Jewish and you pass in front of such a scene, the only thing you want to do is just get away."
The concerns emerged as approximately 550,000 people demonstrated across France on Oct. 17 against rising fuel prices, the cost of living and deteriorating public services, including schools. The demonstrations were masked rioters clashed with police, looted businesses and set fire to vehicles and buildings in Paris, Marseille and other cities. France's Interior Ministry reported approximately 2,400 arrests.
President Emmanuel Macron called for "calm and order" in a national address, warning against escalation. "We all feel anger and shame," he said, distinguishing protesters' "legitimate demands" from "those who destroyed, smashed and looted." He said "nothing justifies" the violence and pledged accountability. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez offered his resignation, which Macron refused.
Shannon Seban, the France-based executive director of European affairs at the Combat Antisemitism Movement, said the presence of Palestinian flags at demonstrations over domestic issues added to Jewish community concerns.
"We have seen Palestinian flags at demonstrations that were supposed to be about education and social demands. What does Gaza have to do with any of this?" Seban told Fox News Digital.
"This has nothing to do with legitimate student demands anymore. We are talking about organized violence, about people who are not coming to demonstrate but to destroy, to attack our police officers and to challenge the authority of the Republic," she said.
Seban linked the violence to rhetoric urging people to "globalize the intifada" and to antisemitic conspiracy theories circulating online.
"At the Combat Antisemitism Movement, we documented 1,384 antisemitic posts in just two days, including conspiracy theories accusing Jews and Israel of being behind the unrest," Seban said.
"The right to protest is fundamental in a democracy. But the right to protest is not the right to destroy," she added. "France and Europe must wake up. Before it is too late."
In Marseille, Bruno Benjamin, president of the Marseille-Provence branch of CRIF, the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions, described the damage to local businesses and the anxiety facing the community.
"Several hundred shops were ransacked, vandalized and looted. The scale of the devastation is simply unbearable," Benjamin told Fox News Digital.
He said shopkeepers had seen years of work destroyed within hours, leaving some facing layoffs or temporary unemployment for employees.
"This is not just an attack on businesses. It is an attack on people's livelihood, their dignity, and the very fabric of our society," he said.
France's Jewish community security organization, SPCJ, cautioned against assuming that Jewish-owned property was targeted because of religion. In a statement provided to Fox News Digital, SPCJ said a break-in and vandalism at a synagogue in Paris's 19th arrondissement initially suggested burglary, although the motive remained undetermined. Jewish-owned businesses were among those damaged in Marseille, it said, without evidence they had been singled out for being Jewish.
The U.S. State Department's existing Level 2 travel advisory urges Americans to exercise increased caution in France because of terrorism and unrest. Fox News Digital reached out to the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment on the unrest and the safety of the Jewish community.
Benjamin said rising insecurity and antisemitism had left some French Jews considering whether to leave the country, while others remained determined to stay.
"We must relentlessly combat antisemitism, defend their right to live in safety and dignity and ensure that no Jew in France should ever have to choose between their personal security and their love for their country," he said. "Because being Jewish in France should never mean having to live in fear."
For Seban of the Combat Antisemitism Movement, it's evident where the blame lies: "Let me be very clear: La France Insoumise and the far left bear a political responsibility for fueling this climate of violence and confrontation."
French soccer legend Emmanuel Petit ripped into the violent rioters wrecking cities across France, telling the lawless agitators who hate the country to "go back from where you came."
The 1998 World Cup winner fired up Instagram Sunday to vent his "profound deep anger" after protests turned into total madness with torched cars, looted stores, and trashed streets. More than 2,400 rioters have already been locked up nationwide, Fox News Digital reported.
What started as protests over school policy and living costs quickly turned into complete street warfare over the weekend. Masked mobs smashed up store windows and set cars on fire, forcing riot police to unload tear gas in Paris and Marseille while French President Emmanuel Macron admitted he felt "both anger and shame."
The ex-Arsenal star didn't dance around it, unleashing on the lawless mobs tearing through neighborhoods.
"It's thugs because their cowardice is what unites them," he blasted. "They destroy everything, they burn everything, they break everything, they plunder, they steal, they hurt, they aggress, they insult."
He contrasted the criminal mobs on the streets with honest, hard-working taxpayers who are fed up with runaway inflation and crushing government policies.
"You shouldn't mix up the people who manifested yesterday, and I understand them strongly because I too am more than fed up of being pressed like a lemon on a fiscal plan," Petit said, defending working-class families who rise early, pay taxes, and follow the law while being abandoned by the state.
Petit laid down the law on immigration, welcoming foreigners who respect France while telling agitators who hate the nation that nobody wants them around.
"I love my country, I love all foreigners who love my country and who want to integrate," Petit said.
"But all the others, starting with the French who do not wish precisely that France continues to be what it is, go back from where you came, we don't need you," he warned.
Petit went even further, directly targeting homegrown radicals and native-born rioters taking part in the violence: "And all those who were born with a French passport, break yourselves [get lost], we don't want you anymore."
The soccer star didn't let Macron off the hook either, putting France's political elite on blast and demanding they actually do their jobs to protect law-abiding citizens.
"I'm addressing the political class, starting with our dear president, Mr. Macron, and all the political classes," Petit said. "To all these people, I have a message to give you: be very careful about what you are going to do, what you are going to say, and how you are going to protect the honest citizens in France."
Petit concluded by slamming a failed government apparatus that taxes citizens into oblivion while starving law enforcement and essential services.
"Because today, there's no money for the police, there's no money for the army, there's no money for the hospitals, there's no money for the schools," Petit said. "Bizarrely, the only thing that works in France, is taxes."
The embattled French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday pinned some of the blame on the U.S. war against the terrorist regime in Iran for the widespread riots and looting unfolding across France.
The controversial passage referring to the Iran war from his televised speech triggered criticism from some experts. Macron said that "demonstrators expressed concern about the cost of living and the price of fuel. Both are driven by the conflict launched in the Persian Gulf, a conflict in which France has taken no part but whose consequences we are suffering."
He added, "I fully understand their concern. It is being expressed in several other European capitals as well. That is why I have taken several initiatives at the international level to secure our fuel and our gas and to act on energy markets." Macron announced that he would be traveling to the Gulf on a three-nation stop to discuss the energy crisis.
It is unclear which demonstrators Macron signaled out for alleged concerns about fuel prices. Fox News Digital reported on Monday on the inner workings of the large-scale riots with many of the groups named seeking to abolish the free enterprise system.
Macron stressed that those who have tried "to bring down the republic will be held accountable."
President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that, "I said the first time I met Macron, I said, you got to close up your borders. You're going to ruin your country. And they've ruined their country. It's going to be hard to get it back. But hopefully France will come back."
A spokesman for the French foreign ministry pointed Fox News Digital to President Macron's televised address on Sunday and referred Fox News Digital to the Elysée press office for other questions. The Élysée press office did not respond by time of publication.
Lisa Daftari, an Iran expert, told Fox News Digital, "Macron is pointing at the Iran war, but fuel is expensive because Iran's regime closed the Strait of Hormuz and held the world's energy supply hostage. The bigger question is whether this is really about students and fuel prices at all. Major infrastructures and landmarks have been set on fire, shops were looted across the country and nearly 2,400 people were arrested in a single day."
According to Daftari, who is the Foreign Desk Editor-in-Chief, "That's not a protest over the price of diesel. It's organized lawlessness and Macron's own government admits it, blaming ultra-left groups and criminals. France has a domestic crisis, and current geopolitics are not the alibi for it."
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu accused the "ultra-left movement" of "orchestrating profound disorder in the country leading up to the presidential election "
Barak Seener, an associate research fellow at the London-based Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital that "Illegal immigration from the Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa as well as from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh to European states serve as Trojan horses to dominate the West. Calls to ‘globalize the intifada’ and ‘Free Gaza’ and ‘Stop the genocide’ are codes to subvert and ultimately dominate Western civilization and impose Sharia law. Macron is still making the mistake of ignoring this."
In a social media post Vice President JD Vance criticized France for its porous immigration policy. Vance wrote on X that "Western liberals imported the third world into France and other countries in the name of diversity and compassion."
He added: "They ignored fundamental questions of assimilation and compatibility. They were told it would lead to this and they didn’t listen."
Seener said that similarly, the French political establishment’s political correctness and unilateral support of a Palestinian state have come home to roost. Just as Macron ignorantly declared at the 81st United Nations General Assembly that Hamas ‘has never been active’ in the West Bank, it is remarkable how Macron is reframing reality to suit his political agenda."
Seener, who has written extensively about Iran, added that "He has chosen to address students, teachers, trade unions, lawmakers and business leaders and increased oil prices due to the U.S.-led war against Iran. It is unrelated to this. More fundamentally, Macron is choosing to ignore the Red-Green alliance that has contributed to the riots across France, including 38 radical Left and Muslim organizations and 16 student organizations which includes communist youth groups and a Muslim student association such as the Muslim Students of France."
A prominent French newspaper delivered a blistering critique of the country’s leadership after nationwide protests descended into riots, looting and arson.
The article, written by Vincent Trémolet de Villers for the conservative newspaper Le Figaro and published Sunday afternoon local time, blamed years of political failures for contributing to the unrest and took particular aim at President Emmanuel Macron.
It criticized what it described as a justice system that is "lenient toward criminals," accused far-left groups of carrying out violence with little consequence and took aim at France’s immigration and security policies.
"A judiciary that is lenient toward criminals but unrelenting toward decent citizens. The incomprehensible privilege of these far-left militias, who destroy, set fires, and kill with impunity," the article stated, according to a translation.
"An uncontrolled immigration, in which a portion of the immigrants rebels against the country that took them in."
The article also took aim at Macron over his past calls for police to show greater empathy.
"Emmanuel Macron’s reprimands toward a police force he deemed insufficiently 'empathetic' — directed at officers under attack by bolts, cobblestones, and mortar fireworks — will remain an indelible stain," it stated.
The author argued that the unrest reflected deeper failures by France’s political establishment.
"If the far-left, criminals, and looters can turn France upside down in a matter of hours, it is primarily because a technocratic monarchy — intoxicated by its own self-importance — has methodically dismantled all the moral, security, cultural, and economic safeguards that allow a society to remain standing."
The scathing assessment followed a day of violence across France, where masked groups clashed with police, looted businesses, set fires and attacked public buildings, according to The Associated Press.
Macron addressed the nation Sunday, condemning the violence and vowing that those responsible would be held accountable.
"Nothing will excuse their actions. We all tonight feel angry. We feel shame as well," Macron said, according to a translation of his televised remarks.
"There needs to be a response. Those people who looted need to pay for their crimes," he added.
The French president also acknowledged concerns raised by the youth about their economic prospects and futures.
"The youth of our nation are expressing great anguish and concern about the future, the conditions of where their careers will take them, what role they will be able to play in society," Macron said. "… I hear what they are saying, for the past ten years I've been fighting for them, so we need to pay heed to what they are saying."
Macron said he ordered officials to increase security around public buildings and businesses, with protests potentially restricted in some areas.
At least 2,400 people were arrested nationwide, including 855 in the Paris region, according to the AP.
More than 500 police officers, gendarmes and firefighters were injured, the AP reported, citing Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez.
Authorities estimated roughly 550,000 people took part in Saturday's demonstrations, while organizers put turnout at 800,000, according to the AP.
Hundreds of businesses were looted nationwide, and unrest continued Sunday in Paris, where police used tear gas as tensions flared around Place de la République.
The criticism also comes as Macron faces scrutiny over his decision to attend a Celine Dion concert with his wife, Brigitte, on Friday night, on the eve of the nationwide demonstrations.
The protests, fueled in part by anger over rising living costs, school conditions and public services, erupted into violence Saturday.
Macron's office and Le Figaro could not immediately be reached by Fox News Digital for comment.
Fox News Digital's Bradford Betz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Violent clashes broke out across France Saturday as demonstrations entered a fourth week.
Earlier in the week, President Emmanuel Macron made some of his most direct comments yet on the protests as he enters his final six months in office.
In his weekly cabinet meeting, Macron "stressed that young people have legitimate concerns," government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon told the AFP, "but these are being exploited for political purposes and turned into urban violence."
Bregeon added that Macron called on his ministers to come up with "concrete responses" to the unrest within weeks.
This comes as a national day of protest over rising costs of living and additional student grievances led to violence in Paris and other major cities today.
While many of the protests were without violence, many have descended into violent riots. Police used tear gas and water cannons Saturday to disperse violent groups in the capital, where people wearing hoods and masks threw fireworks and other objects at officers in the Place de la République.
The interior ministry reported assaults on police, looting and damage to public buildings, saying there have been at least 272 arrests nationwide.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu took a more direct approach than Macron, saying the student movement has been "instrumentalized by the allies of France Unbowed (LFI) ... for electoral reasons."
The far-left LFI’s presidential candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, even participated in one of the Paris protests this week, while LFI councilors, deputies and mayors have joined student blockades in multiple cities.
Elections to replace the term-limited Macron are set for April and May, and opposition parties have seized upon the ongoing unrest. Leading candidate Marine Le Pen of the conservative National Rally party has voiced support for the police, blaming students for any violence.
"Macron is right that students can have legitimate grievances and that political forces are exploiting them. What is missing from that diagnosis is the state’s own responsibility for the loss of authority that makes this exploitation possible," Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, senior envoy to Europe at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.
"Macron cannot speak about this simply as an observer. He has to answer for the institutions he leads," she added. "His challenge is to show that democracy can both solve problems and defend itself. Otherwise, the far left profits by calling the state oppressive, and the far right profits by calling it powerless."
Meanwhile, students, unions, rights groups and parents have accused the police of using excessive force against the students.
According to the AFP, the interior ministry has opened internal investigations into 36 allegations of police officer violence against demonstrators. But the national police union, Alliance Police Nationale, says it has filed a lawsuit against the government for "putting lives in danger" over what it called "contradictory orders" given to officers deployed in the protests.
The Alliance says officers felt "betrayed, abandoned, left to fend for themselves" by their political leaders because of their "unclear instructions" and what they said were public expressions of "empathy towards the rioters."
"This is the country of the French Revolution. Everyone boasts about it," police officer and union representative Walid Hrar told The Associated Press. "Some political parties don’t hesitate to say that we need to disobey the law. That’s what Robespierre and other revolutionaries taught us in 1789.
"France always tends to react rather than anticipate," he added. "In other words, we’re always going to extremes."
On the sidelines of Friday’s European Council summit in Brussels, Macron again called for calm, saying, "There is a constitutional right to protest and to express oneself. But this right comes with the need to respect. Respect for people, respect for property and, therefore, a commitment not to insult or destroy."
Lecornu told Parliament that 937 police officers and 149 teachers and school staff have been injured since the protests began, while the French justice ministry reports that nearly 8,000 people have been arrested.
Protests have also spread to neighboring Belgium.
Several hundred mostly young people protested in Brussels Saturday, according to Reuters, clashing with police in protests at least partly inspired by what is going on in France.
A similar protest occurred in the French-speaking city of Liege. Student groups say they are protesting rising education costs and reforms they say will make higher education less accessible.
Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin posted on X that what is happening in his country "is no longer mere protest! It is pure and simple violence, organized and repeated to destabilize our society… All necessary means will be used to restore order in the face of the rioters."
Small solidarity events have also taken place in neighboring Luxembourg and the French-speaking parts of Switzerland, but they have been peaceful with no arrests reported. Student protests also occurred in India this week over education issues there, but they do not appear to be linked to the protests in France.
French authorities have expressed hope the protest movement will ease in coming days as schools nationwide are closed until Nov. 2 due to the Toussain, or All Saints’, holiday.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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