. . . seem to be getting worse. What started out as relatively peaceful protests against poor school conditions have devolved into full-scale rioting complete with arson, mass destruction, and looting. The far left and French unions have joined in, as well as a lot of young pro-Palestinians, many of whom may be immigrants or from unassimilated immigrant communities.
Here’s a BBC videoabout the riots:
My Facebook feed is full of people using the riots as a reason to stem immigration to France (and Europe in general). As I’ve said, I don’t want to use these protests so much to call for a total ban on immigration (though clearly some restrictions are in order) as to call attention to the pro-Palestinian and anti-Western nature of the demonstrations, which suggest that Europe is in danger of losing its liberal democratic culture. Why on earth should a protest that’s about schools and national budgets be replete with people waving Palestinian flags and calling for another intifada? Why the destruction, symbolizing the destruction of Western liberal values.
Here’s Noa Tishby, an Israeli actress now living in America, making that point. Click the screenshot to see her video post:
Many shopkeepers have had to stand by, like this poor woman, as protestors invaded their shops, wrecked them, and looted the goods, ruining their life’s work. This woman is apparently host with her own petard:
What we know:
1. She’s a member of the French left-wing party and an activist, one of the biggest advocates for opening up migration to North African peoples.2. She owns a small chic boutique in an upscale spot, she stood in her shop trying to save it from looting and theft telling them that she’s a famous activist.
3. She told them I’m so-and-so, the activist for asylum, I’m with you, I’ve defended you and your entry and stay in France, they spat on her, knocked her down, and trampled her with their feet, good thing she’s still alive.
4. And they looted the whole shop, losing all the struggle and work of her lifetime in a moment. Standing there stunned, not believing that these thieving, rabble-rousing, criminal, barbaric hordes are the ones she’s spent her whole life defending, and advocating for them to invade her country and destroy it
— American Politic (@rosewdc) October 18, 2026
The woman speaking, with subtitles:
A French woman who supported France’s left wing government and the protests asks why left wing protesters are looting her store. It’s a perfect distillation of left wing decisions, this is where it all leads. https://t.co/qSwKyXK7DV
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 18, 2026
Apparently mosques (unlike churches and synagogues) have been spared vandalism, as have many Muslim-owned shops. Here’s a tweet I got from Luana:
“Don’t smash it up, she’s a sister!”
This shop manager protecting her business is spared by the thugs out of Muslim solidarity.
Still absolutely no connection to immigration. https://t.co/uGLdD39TEn
— Thaïs d’Escufon (@ThaisEscufon) October 19, 2026
In contrast, a non-Muslim immigrant who lost everything:
🇫🇷 Owner of La Barrique, Aline, was beaten and disfigured. Her restaurant was completely burned down. She has lost everything… https://t.co/gFqDUZPP85
— Asian Dawn (@AsianDawn4) October 18, 2026
A good post from Maarten Boudry (click to read):
France has a long history of protest, student, and otherwise, but I’m worried about two things here.
First, the role of pro-Palestinians and anti-Western actors in these riots, which will have turned many Europeans into advocates (or at least osculators) of terrorism. Second, the fact that these riots may put into power far right-factions in Europe, some of which are Nazi-adjacent.
I am no pundit, but surely the solution involves recognizing the problem of immigrant communities who won’t assimilate into the European liberal-democratic tradition, as well as somehow enlightening those blockheads who shout “free Palestine” while waving Palestinian flags and chanting “from the river to the sea”. Is either of these possible? I don’t know.
And I have a bit of a worry that something like this will happen in America, as there are signs of it now in the ascendancy of Democratic Socialists and the increasing demonization of Israel and rise of anti-semitic crimes. But, as they always say, “It can’t happen here.” Well, it’s happening in Europe.
“She told them I’m so-and-so, the activist for asylum, I’m with you, I’ve defended you and your entry and stay in France, they spat on her, knocked her down, and trampled her with their feet, good thing she’s still alive.”
That poor woman who lost her shop, I feel for her. She, a white, non-Muslim woman, didn’t understand that she will never be accepted as “one of the them”. She is a tool, to be used and discarded later. She made the cardinal sin of assuming that everyone in the world has the same system of values as she does and wants the same things out of life. Hopefully she has now realized that there are entire societies of people that care nothing for civilization, and would love nothing more than to plunge all of us back into the dark ages of ignorance. At least that way, if we are all immiserated and mired in religious bigotry, the failures of the Muslim world to bring about thriving societies will not be so obvious.
Maybe, just maybe, Western nations should be more careful as to who they let in.
Yeah. This is dangerous and can spread. Pent up anger—no matter the cause—often targets every symbol of power and stability.
France has a growing number of disaffected young people, mainly of North African origin, who eschew integration into the French system and way of life, though they are unlikely to complain about their government subsidies. Antisemitism is endemic there, but this population brings a new form of it, quite apart from the more traditional French antisemitism.
The government tries to buy off this population in various ways, but this is likely fruitless in the longer run. These riots will give increasing credence to the right-wing anti-immigrant party, and will not lead to any fundamental social or economic improvements.
Why do so many people misspell “desserts”? Last summer a club I belong to had a dessert competition, and I won. The company that made the prize medallions misspelled it as “Winner Desert Competition”. I would have thought Maarten Boudry, an author, wouldn’t make that mistake in a public post.
His native language isn’t English, and I bet that’s a typo, as he writes very well in English.
Mr. Glenister,
The correct spelling IS “just deserts.” Boudry is right.
These are not riots in Europe. This are riots in France.
Ah, a rather rude first comment. Sorry, my friend, but the riots have spread to Belgium, and there are demonstrations that could be called riots in Spain. I mentioned Belgium the other day.
Milano, too.
This is not correct. There were also some violent protests in Italy, Portugal and Belgium.
What is the stated reasons (which may not be the real reasons) for the protests in other countries?
I ask because France is in severe economic trouble, with massive deficits and an already highly taxed population. They are in the Eurozone and don’t have the options that countries that control their currencies have (not that printing money is a particularly good idea). Their only recourse is massive spending cuts and this appears to have started the protests.
Of course once protests start, bad actors are often quick to join in.
Another contributing factor to the unrest in France is that 25% of the money spent on education goes to pensions for retired teachers. The government also has debt of 119% of GDP, the highest since the end of WW2.
There is going to be a reckoning, one way or another. The bond markets will not allow France to continue to borrow unchecked, which means they’ll have to spend less, which will no doubt result in further protests.
This could well be a glimpse into the future in the U.S.
This what started the protests, that the government wanted to cut spending to tackle the debt.
Here in Texas MAGA Republicans are running on a Save America (from Muslims and Communists) plan; I know, not rational, but these riots are feeding into anti-Muslim sentiment right before the mid-terms. Not good.
From the German magazine Spiegel
https://www.spiegel.de/ausland/frankreich-die-gewalt-ist-hausgemacht-kommentar-a-51c264d3-adde-4de5-8d11-2d29b6552ddb
The devolution from “mostly peaceful” protest into wanton destruction and looting by hobbyists (and/or casseurs ) is as reproducible as a Physics experiment. It was enacted in 2020 at the BLM festivities in the US, and more recently, on a small scale, in a few Portland and Seattle neighborhoods. If the experiment follows the standard course, we know what to expect. The Weathermen’s “Days of Rage” outing in Chicago in 1969 (and then their bomb-making misadventure in Manhattan) ensured Nixon’s 1972 landslide, and Republican dominance throughout the 1980s. Likewise, the casseurs and the Melenchon exhibitionists have ensured the election of Marine Le Pen in France and similar populist candidates elsewhere. Tout ca change, tout c’est etc…..
These riots are not caused exclusively by one factor. I used to take part in left-wing demonstrations (peaceful ones) in Vancouver, back in the 1990s. Long story. The Communists, the Trotskyists, the anti-Israel activists were always there but they were not powerful. They did not set the tone, the Unions did. It felt like a coalition, and the demonstrations were about political causes like free trade agreements for example. (of course today I would not be found dead with any of these people, but then we all grow up eventually.) The only riots we have seen in Vancouver so far were two sports ones.
What is different in today’s riots is that from what I see, the extremists are in control, and the leadership that emerged is the Red-Green Coalition. Extremist Wokes and extremist Muslims. Ignorance coupled with fanaticism.
The governments are being caught unawares —I suspect— for the following reason: They had a lot of people sympathetic to the left-wing causes, or the Islamist cause, hired and promoted over the years. I suspect these workers act like sand in the machine: they keep finding excuses to dull and delay the response. With riots, speedy response seems to be the key, otherwise the rioting spreads.
Not good.
Watching videos of the riots made me recall what Steven Pinker wrote about “forward panics,” those tipping points where a crowd of angry people suddenly turns into a violent mob egged on to further and further excesses. I also noted that the vast majority of the rioters were young men milling around in aimless groups seemingly looking for trouble. A situation like that and whether the original complaint was about schools, mass immigration, or a library with an inadequate poetry section -doesn’t matter. Not good.
A little late in the season for this, isn’t it? Usually this is a summer activity in France, although the September Massacres happened in, well, September. Let’s see if Macron stands up like Bonaparte or folds like Louis XVI (or Louis-Phillipe).