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Campus protests, social unrest, and social forums ignited in France, which quickly escalated into nationwide riots. Due to inaccurate intelligence and inadequate police forces, the situation spiraled out of control, causing serious damage to public safety and business in Paris and elsewhere.
Mass demonstrations began in France on the 17th, which soon escalated into riots throughout the country, and the chaos continued until the 18th. Rioters caused havoc in cities such as Paris and Marseille, setting fires, looting stores and even ransacking city halls. At one point the conflict reached just 300 meters from Rashtrapati Bhavan. A total of 2,397 people were arrested across the country, 997 police and gendarmes were injured and about 1,500 shops were looted, according to the latest figures from the French Interior Ministry. chairmanlong sign on english vowel Emphasizing that all those involved in the violence will be prosecuted and punished.
Why did this protest get out of control so quickly? Based on analysis by Al Jazeera, Le Parisien and Le Monde, in addition to long-accumulated social discontent, intelligence agencies seriously underestimating the number of protesters, inadequate police deployment and social platforms like TikTok adding fuel to the fire, are all important factors in the rapid deterioration of the situation.
This wave of protests can be seen till mid-September. High school students in Créteil, a suburb southeast of Paris, began the demonstration over problems such as a shortage of teachers and outdated campus facilities. The campus blockade began on the 21st and spread to approximately 180 schools nationwide by the 29th. Discontent has spread over rising living costs, deteriorating public services and government budget policies, with trade unions and supporters of the 2018 “Yellow Vest” movement also joining the protests. On the 17th, about 550,000 people took to the streets across the country.
However, a small number of radicals took advantage of large gatherings to launch attacks, while others took advantage of the chaos to loot shops, causing the originally peaceful demonstrations to quickly spiral out of control.
Le Parisien obtained an internal report from the intelligence agency and found that authorities had warned in advance that the risk of urban violence was “high” and that the far left could take the opportunity to intervene, but seriously underestimated the scale of the demonstrations. The intelligence agency originally estimated that only 60,000 to 110,000 people participated nationwide. Later, official figures estimated that there were about 550,000 people, and civil society estimated that there were 800,000 people, a difference of more than 13 times the maximum.
Only about 2,350 mobile police forces were deployed in Paris and surrounding areas that day, only half the number at the peak of the Yellow Vest movement in 2019. Le Monde revealed that there were scenes of 12 police officers at one time facing hundreds of people in Paris, and they could only retreat and wait for reinforcements. The crowd even reached 300 meters away from Rashtrapati Bhavan. One policeman said bluntly: “There must have been something wrong that allowed these groups to reach this far into the Elysee Palace.”
This wave of riots has also deeply affected the retail industry. The Galeries Lafayette department store in Paris was broken into and looted by thugs. Hermès in Marseille, the Louis Vuitton store in Bordeaux and the Apple store in Lille were also targeted. Dior and other boutique brands have hired private security guards to protect their stores in Paris. Photos of a large number of security guards lining up outside a Dior flagship store have attracted attention on the Internet. Video obtained by Le Parisien shows robbers in a shopping mall in Marseille barely covering their faces and calmly walking away with large and small bags of goods. No police was seen at the scene.
Initial investigations found that the rioters consisted primarily of well-organized far-left, gradually radicalized college and high school students and youth from working-class communities, with a small number of foreign far-leftists.
Sources familiar with the matter said that compared to the Yellow Vest movement, the biggest difference is that TikTok has played an “unprecedented instant impact.” Many young people have come together spontaneously through videos, making it difficult for intelligence agencies to predict. Le Parisien reported that this spontaneous and disorganized mobilization model, driven by a new generation unfamiliar with intelligence agencies, was reminiscent of the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement of 2014. Sources also describe this power as a “self-evolving monster” that spreads rapidly through algorithms.
