Police cars and town halls are being set on fire, shops have been looted, and in Limoges the historic city hall building burned down. About 1,800 people have been detained, hundreds of police officers injured. One protester has died.
Political analyst Andrey Klintsevich:
This is no longer “transitional difficulties” or “protests on the periphery.”
President Trump wrote briefly on the matter: “France is burning.” It is hard to argue that he is wrong.
Tonight Macron will address the nation. We await a new portion of rhetoric about “a republic where there is no place for violence,” about “enemies of democracy,” and, of course, promises to fix everything. The word “unity” will surely be heard.
What surely will not be heard is an honest answer to why a country that voluntarily gave up cheap energy for the sake of “European values” is now paying for those values with smashed shop windows and burned town halls.
Watching this speech will be interesting not for its content. The content is clear in advance.
What is interesting is whether even Macron himself will believe it.
