Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
Policing and provoking violence: the French state’s gamble
NICK WRIGHT argues that the deliberate escalation of confrontations on the streets to turn the public against the movement may be in the process of backfiring — while the British system is far too wise to risk it
Riot police brutally attack protesters in Paris, last Thursday

MASSIVE demonstrations, widespread strikes, violent clashes with the police and an air of crisis means Charles Windsor and his long-time consort were stuck in Blighty. With the full pomp of the French state unable to guarantee the passage of King Charles the Unready, President Macron has suffered an enormous blow.

Charles III was due a feast at Versailles. In the intervening centuries since the French beheaded their own king the palace has largely been spared violence — but this time the Mairie in Bordeaux was set alight while Paris has seen the biggest demonstrations and most violent police actions for some time.

Protest in France is frequently dramatic and routinely involves symbolic challenges to authority, blockages, burning signal flares and percussive devices.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
FOREVER SERVILE: French President Emmanuel Macron greets US President Donald Trump at the G7 summit in Evian, France in June 2026
Military spending / 16 July 2026
16 July 2026

While millions face poverty and public services are squeezed, France is committing billions to defence spending and weapons production, in a dangerous shift towards permanent preparation for war, says CONOR BOLLINS

Tom Mooney Company from the Lincoln Battalion, during the Spanish Civil War, Jarama, Spain, 1937
History / 24 February 2026
24 February 2026

CJ ATKINS commemorates one of the most dramatic moments in working-class history

RIGHT ANGER, WRONG ANSWER: Faversham’s small anti-migrant demo assembles, Sunday October 5 2025
Features / 9 October 2025
9 October 2025

Once again, our broad-based coalition outnumbered the anti-migrant protest in Faversham, but tackling the sentiment behind this wave of anger requires explaining the real reasons pushing millions into leaving their homelands, argues NICK WRIGHT

A protester of the
Features / 22 September 2025
22 September 2025

DENNIS BROE gives an update on the last week of anti-austerity protests against the Macron regime, which has seen the supposedly more right-leaning Gilets Jaunes join with the unions and the left