On the left, Paris’s Socialist mayor, Emmanuel Grégoire, said he was awaiting “explanations” from Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, as sporadic looting continued Sunday evening in the capital. “There’s no need to stage all this—the Greens are very clear: we condemn all violence,” Marine Tondelier wrote on X following the president’s address, while Manuel Bompard, the coordinator of La France insoumise, stated on LCI that Emmanuel Macron had “spoken without saying anything.” “It’s absolutely irresponsible to take the podium tonight just to say nothing,” Bompard added.
Edouard Philippe, former Prime Minister and presidential candidate, was not convinced by the speech. “Like millions of French people, I would have preferred decisions and initiatives to restore order and reestablish state authority, to punish looters and rioters, and to outline a detailed plan for resuming dialogue with high school students and labor unions. Our country needs strong leadership,” he posted to X.
His successor and opponent, Gabriel Attal, urged people to “learn all the lessons from these events.”
“The scenes of violence are unbearable. The scenes of looting of our stores and town halls are disgraceful. The scenes of chaos are a provocation against state authority. Nothing can justify these actions,” he wrote.
Paris, France, on October 18, 2026.
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Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally, described the president’s statement as “lamentable.”
“This cowardly and disoriented administration has nothing left to say to the French people, nothing left to offer them. It no longer even has the strength to protect them,” he posted on X.
Bruno Retailleau (Les Républicains), concurred on the same platform. “The President of the Republic appears completely overwhelmed,” he wrote, adding that Macron appears “incapable of using the force of the state to counter the mayhem threatening the Republic.”
Protests Against The High Cost of Living Turn Violent In Milan
As in Paris and much of France, there were clashes in the streets of Italy, as protesters broke away from a planned march against income inequality and in support of education.
Originally published by Vanity Fair France
