France burns against the cost of living: Are they returning to 'dirty money'?

France burns against the cost of living: Are the 'black armilles' returning? The mobilization has led to scenes of great violence and chaos in Paris and other French cities with 800,000 people on the streets - CAST - ENG ParisThe mobilization in France to protest against the rise in the cost of living has resulted in images of authentic chaos, violence, and confrontations between protesters and the police in Paris and other cities such as Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Rennes, and Limoges. According to the organizers, 800,000 people took to the streets, a figure that the French authorities reduce to 550,000. Across the country, more than 90 demonstrations and 500 protests were called, and many ended in clashes—especially serious ones in Paris—in a day when the police arrested more than 400 people. In the capital, confrontations between the police and protesters were constant throughout the day, with the Place de la République as the epicenter. Violent groups also stormed shops, set public furniture, vehicles, and buildings on fire, and threw various objects at the police. In Limoges, the demonstrators burned the City Council, and in Lyon, a group of protesters set a tourism office on fire. During the day, workers and students who took to the streets were also protesting against the police action, which has been highly questioned in recent weeks during the repression of student protests. The Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, attributed the scenes of violence by the protesters to individuals from the "far-left and far-right" with a "clear intention" to attack public buildings, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, stressed that in France "there is no room for violence." Revolt on the networks The call began with a TikTok video posted by a young person in early September appealing to hold a demonstration on October 17th against the rise in fuel prices, followed by messages on various social networks demanding the return of the black armilles. The protest movement of 2018 brought out thousands of exasperated French people due to the loss of purchasing power. Eight years earlier, it was precisely the rise in gasoline and diesel prices. A few days after the video's publication, students from secondary schools in the Paris suburbs began a revolt against the lack of teachers, the overcrowding in classrooms, class schedules, and the deteriorating situation in many centers. The protest, still unresolved, spread to the rest of the country's institutions, hundreds of which have been blocked for weeks. During the last weeks, trade unions also called two strike days in the public sector to protest against salary freezes and the cuts the government planned for the 2027 budget. With a debt that is at 119% of GDP (a record since 1946), a public deficit that this year will exceed by 5%, and an economy in danger of recession, the executive led by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has announced austerity measures—such as the freezing of higher pensions—that have increased social discontent. Against the climate of social tension in France, the cry made by that young person on TikTok had enormous resonance this Tuesday. According to the French press, after the call, the black armilles leaders were not present, although many of them had ended up joining. Former members of the movement tried to structure the movement in the last days and the mobilization of this Tuesday reminded, in a way, of the modus operandi of 2018. Scenes of enormous violence were repeated. New social crisis The demonstrations of this Tuesday are no longer only led by students, but also unite different movements and collectives—from students to workers—that could trigger a new social crisis. Will there be a new mobilization of the black armilles like in 2018? "Anything is possible, because there is rage," assured Priscillia Ludosky, one of the leaders of the movement from six years ago, to Le Parisien this week. Discontent is palpable on the streets. "It is true that that October 17th cry did not have a unifying structure or banners [...], but what we see is that what constantly repeats is the issue of purchasing power and the price of gasoline. With the mobilization of secondary school students and the cost of energy, people have a reason to mobilize," Ludosky defended the same day. With a government that most likely has the days counted, with presidential elections in sight, and with the country's economic situation complicated, the president, Emmanuel Macron, and the prime minister have little room to maneuver to make concessions. The chances that street protests will continue are real. "I don't know if it is a crisis of the Republic, but it is a political crisis. Because all these protests derive from social tensions that do not find a political framework to resolve them," points out sociologist François Dubet, former director of studies at the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences. Police repression Secondary school students, with the support of university students, also mobilized this Tuesday to protest against police repression, which they say is very violent. The images of impressive police charges in recent weeks and this Tuesday, as well as the mass use of tear gas and stun grenades—one of which took the hand of a 15-year-old boy—against protesters under the age of 18, have provoked a wave of criticism, especially from the radical left party, La França Insubmisa, without the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, making any self-criticism. In four weeks of student protests, the police have arrested almost 8,000 young people, most of whom are under the age of 18. There have also been significant injuries to institutions and dozens of police and student officers. "We are seeing that the student protest is getting stuck without being resolved. It is a situation similar to what we have seen in other recent protests in France. Therefore, all of this can end up triggering a kind of system crisis—according to Dubet. In the case of the institutions, there is a certain use of the crisis by political parties, but without perspective that changes anything," he concluded.