The riots in France and subsequent return to peace show that the road to civil war is paved with restored order, leaving a more combustible environment for the next crisis, say David Betz and Michael Rainsborough.
The post The Road to Civil War is Paved with Restored Order appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
© Abdul Saboor/Reuters
© Angelos Tzortzinis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Retired NFL linebacker Brandon Spikes has had an interesting football journey.
The former five-star prospect from Shelby, North Carolina committed to Florida out of high school and was a part of the loaded 2006 recruiting class that featured himself as well as college football legends Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin.
After a decorated college career which included two All-American selections and two national championships, Spikes was drafted late in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots, where he spent five of his seven seasons in the league.
The dream for every young man growing up playing football is to ultimately hear their name called by the commissioner of the NFL on draft day, but Spikes claims he had to make some personal (and financial) sacrifices before going pro.
As a guest on the popular "Bussin' With The Boys" podcast, the former Patriots linebacker revealed he wasn't exactly hurting for money while in college.
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"To be honest, I took a f—ing pay cut when I left 'Gainesvegas,'" Spikes said when asked about how much money he made while playing for the Gators.
Mind you, this was pre-NIL, so anything Spikes earned was all under the table at the time.
While his response elicited a laugh from both Will Compton and Taylor Lewan, who were high-level college players in their own right, Spikes was mostly being tongue-in-cheek with his answer.
He did, however, reveal the numbers were a lot closer when factoring in Uncle Sam, referring to Massachusetts as "Taxachusetts" due to the high income taxes he incurred while playing for New England.
"You played in Foxborough," Spikes asked. "That check looks a little bit different when you walk up out of there."
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When asked by Compton whether he cleared seven-figures while wearing orange and blue, Spikes denied it, playing it coy before adding that the university found a way to move his mom down to Florida while he was playing for the Gators.
"Those same home-cooked meals I got my whole life, I got those right there in Gainesville," he joked.
If you are one of the few fans still believing kids weren't getting paid before the advent of NIL, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but players like Spikes were living large long before it was "legal" to do so.
Let's all give Spikes a hand for being so charitable to take a cut in pay to play for the Patriots.
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What a class act!
© Pool photo by Benoit Tessier
France will meet further demonstrations this week with a "massive" deployment of police backed up with soldiers, Macron's government said.
The post France Backfills Front Line Police With Troops as Coming Riot Day Leaves Forces Spread Thin appeared first on Breitbart.
Dani Watt, wife of Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt, challenged the NFL’s decision to keep Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints in France on the schedule after protests over school conditions and living costs led to violence, fires, and
The post T.J. Watt’s Wife Calls Out NFL for Proceeding with Paris Game Despite Riots: ‘Tell Me How This Makes Sense?’ appeared first on Breitbart.
© Lou Benoist/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
© Thibaud Moritz/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
© Pool photo by Benoit Tessier
A newly circulated video posted on Oct. 21 shows the first moments of the Oct. 17 arson at the historic Hôtel de Ville in Limoges, which served as the city hall.
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 21, 2026
The video, which was released by news outlet Le Populaire du Centre, shows a crowd gathering in Place Jacques Chirac made up mainly of Antifa and various youths, many with a clear migration background. The demonstration ended at 5:48 p.m. and a crowd then moved onto the square in front of the city hall. The video shows graffiti reading “ACAB” is visible on the main doors.
Many of the individuals are wearing hoods or masks typical of black-bloc attire, but a significant number, including possible suspects, are unmasked. Shortly after the video begins, intense flames are seen bursting from the building’s windows and upper floors.
According to police, a group of masked individuals smashed windows, entered the 1883 neo-Renaissance landmark, and set fires while staff and others were still inside, leading to the collapse of the roof and clock tower.
https://rmx.news/article/following-mass-riots-france-debt-interest-soars-to-4-94-reaching-risk-levels-not-seen-since-2012/
Prefect Maurice Barate called it a deliberate “heritage catastrophe” by hooligans. Mayor Guillaume Guérin has repeatedly blamed ultra-left militants who infiltrated the larger protest of about 5,000 people, saying the action appeared organized and prepared.
The mayor also gave a tour of the devastated building, stating he refused to call the arsonists vandals or thugs. Instead, he called them “terrorists.”
— Ô.Mercedes (@DolceVenezia74) October 20, 2026
On the morning of Oct. 20, RAID officers arrested a 34-year-old man identified in French media as Hodei Ciarra Docampo in Val-d’Issoire, roughly 50 kilometers away. He is described as a known ultra-left activist already on France’s “S File” security watchlist, with a prior record of violence against police and involvement in radical environmental groups.
Authorities say video and image evidence helped identify him as a suspect in the arson, however, he is believed to be just one of several suspects. The mayor has called him likely the “brain” of the operation. The investigation, for destruction of property by dangerous means in an organized group, involves the anti-terrorism sub-directorate. Earlier, 17 people linked to the broader unrest in Limoges had been taken into custody.
Reconstruction of the heavily damaged city hall is expected to be costly, and the state has indicated it will assist. As of Oct. 21, the main suspect remains in extended custody while the inquiry continues.
The post France: Video released showing moments before Limoges town hall set on fire, far-left extremist arrested appeared first on Remix News.
Courtesy of Rebecca Mac
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Rebecca Mac, who owns Cosmetic Finance Group, a Manchester, UK-based aesthetics finance company, and Mc Aesthetics, a cosmetic clinic group. It has been edited for length and clarity.
On Saturday, 110 demonstrations drew 550,000 people nationwide, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, including 110,000 in Paris. Organizers put the national total at 800,000.
I went to Paris to see Céline Dion in memory of my mom.
My mom had loved Céline for years. We had tickets to see her before the pandemic in Manchester before she died, but the show was canceled. She never got to see her perform.
Friday's concert was really emotional. "All Coming Back to Me Now" and "I'm Alive" made me emotional, but "My Heart Will Go On" was the one that really made me cry.
Seeing Céline felt like I was finally doing it for my mom. Little did I know, less than 24 hours later, my friend and I would be trapped in an Uber during the Paris riots.
At about 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, we left Galeries Lafayette and saw what felt like a sea of people marching toward us. We were like: "Oh my god. This is crazy." We walked away and got an Uber outside Sephora.
Every road the driver tried was closed. He told us to get out, but young men were running past the car, throwing things and banging. We said: "No, we're not getting out of the car in the middle of this."
Courtesy of Rebecca Man
Then people threw metal barriers into the road so cars could not pass. We were stuck there, panicking. Within seconds, police with riot shields charged in from the other side.
We thought the crowd was coming toward us and that we were trapped in the middle. The taxi stood still for a few minutes. It felt like we had no way of getting out.
Courtesy of Rebecca Mac
The police formed a line in front of the car and cleared the barriers so traffic could move. It took about 20 minutes to get back to Le Damantin Hôtel & Spa, near the Champs-Élysées, where we were staying.
Roads were sectioned off, and police on motorbikes and police vans with sirens kept passing us as we drove away.
It was very stressful. It just felt very surreal and very long. We were just relieved to be back at the hotel and safe.
Later that night, hotel staff locked the doors as we were leaving for dinner.
Men in balaclavas were passing outside. A staff member told us: "You cannot go out," and said we looked like "perfect targets to be mugged."
After waiting for about an hour, we decided to take a taxi to the restaurant, which was just around the corner.
But it stopped across the road, where another group of six masked men was standing outside. It was quite intimidating, so we walked around parked cars to avoid getting too close to them.
Courtesy of Rebecca Mac
My Sunday flight to Manchester was delayed, so I booked a 9 a.m. flight to London and then an Uber home to Manchester.
I kept thinking about my children. We had been to Paris a couple of years earlier for Disneyland with my little girl, my niece, and my nephew. I thought: Imagine if this had happened then.
I'm so grateful I saw Céline on Friday. It is a memory I will remember forever. But I'm very upset and disappointed because I do like to go to Paris quite a lot.
The whole experience made me lose my love for Paris a bit.
Additional reporting by Amanda Goh.
The government approved measures on Tuesday creating an offence of violent participation in demonstrations, extending preventive detention powers to teenagers aged 14–17 and making parents financially liable for damage caused by their children. The package also provides for 500 soldiers to support security operations in Milan through December.
The crackdown presents a defining challenge for a prime minister whose political identity rests heavily on law and order: demonstrating that stronger powers can prevent another eruption while addressing the conditions feeding public anger.
Milan’s damaged shopping streets have become the most visible symbol of that challenge. Weekend violence brought looting, fires and confrontations with police, exposing businesses and residents to disorder in Italy’s financial capital.
As EU Today reported in its earlier coverage of the unrest, police brought 271 people to headquarters following Sunday’s disturbances, including 220 minors. Thirty-two were formally arrested, a detail that matters when assessing the scale of alleged criminal involvement.
The prominence of teenagers has shaped the government’s response. According to the Associated Press, the decree makes prosecuting minors over 14 easier and includes plans to expand juvenile detention capacity and judicial resources. Parliament must convert the decree into law within 60 days.
For supporters, the argument is straightforward: shopkeepers should not have to absorb the cost of destruction, and officers need effective tools against groups exploiting demonstrations to commit offences.
Yet preventive detention raises a different question from punishment after conviction. Its credibility depends on clear evidence, consistent safeguards and meaningful scrutiny, particularly when those affected are children.
Making the distinction will help determine whether the package strengthens public confidence or deepens distrust among young people already alienated from political institutions.
The wider European debate offers a warning. In its earlier editorial, EU Global examined the tension between public-order legislation and the right to protest, arguing that governments risk restricting legitimate dissent when security powers expand too broadly. That commentary predates the Milan disturbances but addresses the central democratic question now confronting Italy.
Peaceful assembly and criminal violence require different responses. Protecting the former gives authorities greater legitimacy when confronting the latter; treating an entire demonstration as suspect risks weakening that distinction.
Meloni also faces a political vulnerability that additional arrests cannot automatically resolve. The Financial Times reported that the unrest involved teenagers mobilised through social media, many without political affiliations, against a background of economic stagnation and expensive living conditions.
Those circumstances complicate any attempt to explain the disorder through a single organisation, ideology or grievance. Online mobilisation can accelerate confrontation without producing leaders capable of negotiating an end to it.
For the government, this makes prevention as important as punishment. Better intelligence, timely deployment and coordination between national and municipal authorities will influence whether stronger legislation produces safer streets.
The same applies to the military presence. Soldiers can provide visible reassurance, but the political test will be whether residents and businesses experience sustained security once the immediate emergency passes.
Establishing individual responsibility for destruction and restoring confidence that lawful political participation can deliver results will be the priorities if public respect for the law is to be maintained.
Meloni’s new measures offer a forceful immediate answer to the first. Their lasting success will depend on whether the government can make progress on the second, before another weekend of anger becomes another emergency requiring still tougher powers.
© Marko Djurica/Reuters
© Saumya Khandelwal for The New York Times
Paris has descended into flames and anarchy as thousands have taken to the streets for what amounted to nearly a week of rioting. But that doesn't mean the NFL will cancel its game there.
The post NFL to Add Heightened Security for Paris Game Due to Civil Unrest appeared first on Breitbart.
© Camille McOuat for The New York Times
In a swift response to an outbreak of French-style youth unrest in Milan, Giorgia Meloni's government has approved a decree empowering police and prosecutors to pursue rioters, including those under 18.
The post ‘You Break it, You Pay!’: Meloni Enacts Emergency Decree Against Multicultural Youth Riots appeared first on Breitbart.
© Stephane Mahe/Reuters
© Abdul Saboor/Reuters
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