Violence in France: With iron bars against the places of power

As the train arrives at the Gare de l’Est, the conductor warns travelers from Germany by announcement: “Be careful, in Paris and many other cities you expect social unrest!” How justified the warning is, tourists experience after only a few steps from the station hall. Tear gas is in the air, the noise of police sirens is deafening. A father with a rolling suitcase protects himself in front of his two daughters, who want to discover Paris with him during the autumn holidays. “Where did we end up here,” he asks stunned, before he flees with his family into a metro entrance. The district between East and North Station in Paris will be a hotspot of the riots in the French capital on Saturday. Already in the morning, protesters gathered at Gare de l’Est for unannounced meetings, which are pushed away by the police forces with batons and tear gas grenades. But against the violence of the rioters, the guards of order prove to be powerless during the protest day. In the district around the two train stations, where about twenty trains from Germany arrive every day, rioters ignite garbage cans and electric rental bicycles in broad daylight. The batteries of the electric bikes explode and cause small fireballs, which the troublemakers film. The goal: Invade the “places of power” Armed with iron bars, masked looters smash shop windows and clear out shops, including supermarkets, sports and computer stores. There is also rioting in pharmacies and banks. The looting attracts more people who use it and continue to run with food or sporting goods. The Paris police prefecture confirmed on Sunday that “young Banlieue residents came to Paris with the sole intention of committing crimes.” Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire laments a mess that didn’t happen even during the 2019 Yellow West movement. Rightsless zones are emerging on Saturday in several quarters of the capital. In Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux, Nice and other cities, the violence also got out of hand. The goal of invading the “places of power” had been spread through the social networks of groups invoking the Yellow Vest movement. One of the organizers of the protests and originator of the website 17octobregiletjaune.net, Benjamin Ball, defended the violence on Sunday. They ask me to condemn the violence, the riots, the barricades. I don’t condemn the anger, I salute it, Ball said. Mayor makes serious accusations In Marseille, rioters managed to storm into the town hall and knock a Marian bust off the pedestal. The statue of women symbolizes the Republic. In Limoges, arsonists set fire in the town hall, which severely damaged the historic building from 1883. “The town hall is largely lost,” said the responsible prefect on Sunday. The architecture of Limoges City Hall served as a model for Paris City Hall. Protesters in the capital also tried to enter the town hall. In Lyon, the tourist office at Place Bellecour went up in flames. The mayors of Paris, Lyon and Marseille made serious allegations against the government on Sunday and called for talks with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu. “I expect explanations,” said the Marseille mayor, the socialist Benoit Payan. He had warned before the day of protest that the demonstrations could derail. “I hope the sixth world power does not play with fire,” said Payan. He referred to the suspicion that the minority government could deliberately foment the chaos in order to delegitimize the protests of the high school students. “Hordes of looters and looters have gone to our commons, to the town hall, to the police department, to policemen, firefighters and high school students,” the mayor of Marseille indignantly said. Comparison to far-right leagues of the 1930s The peaceful demonstrations of high school students, farmers and other workers who followed calls for a nationwide day of protest “in defense of purchasing power” received little attention due to civil war-like conditions. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 550,000 people participated in the protests across the country, the organizers spoke of 800,000. On Sunday, a dispute broke out over the causes of the eruption of violence, which was also exceptional by French standards. The former chairman of the Republicans, the sister party of the CDU, Éric Ciotti, denounced a “red fascism”. Ciotti has allied himself with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) and drew a comparison to the far-right leagues that swarmed into violent attacks on the Republic in the 1930s. Now these are attempts to overthrow from the extreme left, Ciotti said. “These are not demonstrations, but attempts at political destabilization to eliminate our democracy,” he said. RN presidential candidate Le Pen spoke of “legitimate social demands” taken hostage by the “extreme left”. She condemned the MPs and other members of the Left Party La France insoumise (LFI) who justified violence. “They want to plunge our country into chaos,” Le Pen said. Similarly, Prime Minister Lecornu, who scheduled an emergency meeting on Sunday evening, argued. Lecornu directly attacked LFI presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon: “They assign responsibility for the violence to the police chiefs, this is a dangerous and cynical distortion of responsibility.” Mélenchon apologize for the violence. The far-left presidential candidate claimed that the minority government had “played with fire.” The police operation “opened the door to chaos”. The ..