Emmanuel Macron used a visit to Marseille on Monday to signal that his administration will unveil a set of “strong measures” meant to cool weeks of unrest, while cautioning that another round of nationwide protests set for Saturday would be “risky.” The French president said planned march routes would stay away from city centers so that public order can be protected.
- Key Point: Macron said he had told the government of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to answer “the legitimate demands” fueling the movement, and that education and university-admission proposals would follow a nationwide consultation with student representatives.
- Key Point: Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said he expected more trouble on Oct. 31 and described Halloween as a night that is traditionally somewhat lively. He also said organized far-right groups had confronted left-wing activists in cities including Nice and Montpellier.
- Key Point: The previous Saturday’s unrest was met with curfews and 70,000 police officers nationwide, and authorities made 1,435 arrests. Government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon said the state had held firm.
- Key Point: Macron acknowledged that his government had failed to foresee the size of the Oct. 17 demonstrations, which turned violent and led to looting in several large cities, and he blamed social platforms for helping mobilize disorder.
Marseille trip mixes thanks with an admission
Before Macron arrived, the Élysée said he would
“pay tribute to and thank the internal security forces that helped restore republican order”
in Marseille, France’s second city, where protesters briefly entered city hall on Oct. 17. A presidential adviser said the purpose was to show
“the state is present, standing firm and fulfilling its mission to protect.”
The president did not offer only praise. He conceded that officials had
“not anticipated at all”
how large the Oct. 17 rallies would become. Violence and looting spread through major cities, prompting claims that authorities had lost control of the streets. Security forces, Macron said, underestimated the speed and scale with which
“extreme left forces”
would converge
“so early in the day.”
Nunez added a parallel warning about organized right-wing counter-demonstrators. He told BFM that
“We knew there had been calls from numerous identity-based and nationalist movements to come out to defend businesses,”
and added:
“In a number of cities, such as Nice and Montpellier, these groups arrived in organized formations, mainly to target the ultra-left movement.”
Macron also turned his fire on online platforms. He said:
“Social media is damaging our democracies.”
The networks, he added, were
“bringing young and not-so-young people to places where criminal acts, attacks and looting were taking place.”
He called social media
“tools for mobilizing the worst impulses.”
A weekend of force, then another test
The president said curfews helped keep relative order during the protests of Oct. 24, when 70,000 officers were deployed across the country and 1,435 arrests were recorded. Bregeon, speaking to RTL radio, framed the result as proof of state authority.
“The state prevailed this weekend. The state was strong.”
Yet the government is already looking toward the next flashpoint. Nunez told BFM that further disturbances were likely on Oct. 31.
“Halloween evening is traditionally always a bit lively,”
he said.
“We expect it to be complicated again.”
Macron, for his part, called the new Saturday demonstrations risky and said routes would be kept outside urban cores to limit confrontation.
The security numbers underline how heavily the state relied on policing rather than concession. Curfews and a large national deployment created a measure of calm, but they did not remove the grievances that brought people into the streets. The government’s challenge is to show that force can be paired with a political response before the next planned protest.
Student grievances and the limits of reassurance
Macron said he had instructed Lecornu’s team to
“respond to the legitimate demands that lie at the root of this social movement.”
The government, he said, would soon present several
“concrete and huge”
measures on education and university admissions. Those proposals were to be shaped by a nationwide consultation involving representatives of high school and university students.
Bregeon confirmed that the demands were being taken seriously.
“There are demands that must be heard and answered,”
she said. But she attached a condition.
“But to answer them, there is a prerequisite: a return to calm. We cannot have a functioning social dialogue in a climate of violence such as the one we experienced a week ago.”
That formula captures the government’s double message: it accepts that parts of the protest agenda are legitimate, but it insists that order must come first. Macron’s Marseille visit was designed to project both firmness and attentiveness. The immediate question is whether the promised package will be specific enough to satisfy students, and whether it can lower the temperature before Saturday’s marches and the Halloween night that Nunez expects to be difficult.
The political balance is delicate. A state that admits it misread the scale of the Oct. 17 unrest must now demonstrate control without appearing deaf to the demands it says it wants to answer. The coming days will test whether Macron’s mix of policing, curfews, criticism of social media and promised student measures can restore calm, or whether each concession simply sets up another confrontation.
Edited by Alex Berry.