After the unrest: France argues who the destroyers are

“The uprising is here” announces a graffito at the Place de la Concorde in the heart of Paris. The French consider themselves an eminently political people: they like to place themselves on a spectrum ranging from rebellious to inflammatory. In socially disadvantaged banlieues, there has been an uproar on average every year since the “Marche des Beurs” of 1983. Less often does violence reach the interior of the metropolises. But it was precisely there that violent excesses occurred on Saturday in the course of the demonstrations. In Angers, Lille and Marseilles, rioters entered the town hall, in Bordeaux the prefect's residence was devastated, in Lyons a branch of the tourist office burned, in Limoges even the town hall. Paris and Marseille experienced looting and devastation such as has not been seen in recent history. According to estimates, 1,500 shops and guest companies were affected nationwide, the property damage is said to amount to hundreds of millions of euros. In the course of violent clashes, nearly a thousand guards and firefighters were injured; Among the demonstrators, there are serious injuries who have lost an eye or a hand. Almost 2,400 people were taken into custody. The yellow Wests have joined the young Wests The starting point of the demonstrations were calls on the net to revive the yellow West movement of 2018/19. They urged residents of socially disadvantaged neighborhoods, farmers, workers and pensioners to protest against the high cost of living and the high price of gasoline. The yellow vests ("gilets jaunes") have joined the young vests ("gilets jeunes"): Several of the students demonstrating since mid-September now also wear a neon yellow warning body as a sign of the "convergence of struggles". Trade unions and parties were not among the organizers of the recent demonstrations, whose disorganization rather testifies to the atomization of the protests. Among the slogans were many against the forces of law and against fascists (for example: “fewer Nazis, more Corgis!”), but also demands for decent wages and for the preservation of public services – as well as vague, no less urgent cries for help regarding lack of perspectives and the feeling of not being heard. On the eve of the riots, Macron showed up at the concert A graffito summed up four decades of supposed contempt for the people by the very highest representatives of the state: Chirac’s “noise and smell”; Sarkozy's "Kärcher"; Hollande's "Toothless"; Macron’s ‘those who are nothing’. France’s incumbent president has repeatedly made himself unpopular with remarks against small people or the unemployed – such as heads against “illiterate female workers” or claiming that it is enough to cross the street to find a job. The fact that the Macrons showed themselves on the eve of the demonstrations alongside the wife of Bernard Arnault, the richest man in France, at the concert of the star singer Céline Dion, made people hysterical, complained a ministerial adviser under the hand. Government officials criticized the far-left party La France insoumise (LFI). Their representatives had instrumentalized the demonstrators. After the riots, however, it also became clear how much the services of the Interior Ministry had underestimated the expected number of participants. According to newspaper reports, they counted on 60,000 to 110,000 protesters, while in fact 550,000 (according to the Home Office) to 800,000 (according to student unions) took to the streets. On October 6, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said he had lost control “when hordes of protesters in downtown cities plundered shops and wreaked havoc.” Exactly this picture was presented at the weekend. Nuñez offered his resignation on Monday – which Macron did not accept. But the president has called for “clear answers” in a television address on Sunday evening. The Macranist President of the National Assembly, who announced the establishment of a parliamentary commission of inquiry, and above all the mayors of the three largest cities in the country, Lyon, Marseille and Paris, pointed in the same direction. They scourge a lack of police resources and communication – Benoît Payan himself had to call the President, the Prime Minister and the Interior Minister from the Marseilles Town Hall to request reinforcements. His Parisian counterpart, Emmanuel Grégoire, even branded a “government-organized deterioration of the social movement”. What remains are questions after questions. Why did the intelligence community misjudge the situation? Were the pre-determined routes appropriate for the demonstration trains? Why were the forces of law often outnumbered and gave up larger inner-city areas over a longer period of time? And who are the destroyers, the “casseurs”: looters and petty criminals from the suburbs, who play into the hands of far-right parties, especially the Rassemblement National (RN), with their wanton, apolitical destruction and targeted attacks on public institutions? Or left-wing, anarcho-autonomous adepts of the “Black Bloc” guerrilla methods? The word “casseurs” has been used since 19. Workers who smashed the means of production since May 1968 then violent protesters. So-called “lois anticasseurs” were adopted in 1970 and 2019; Another law is currently in preparation, which is to require all those present when committing damage to property to pay the appropriate repair or compensation. Captured, hanged. Votes from the camp of “casseurs” and their lawyers turn the accusation, however. The real destroyers are heads of state and business. In an open letter, Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux wrote..