French Riots: Police Aren’t the Problem

As the rioting in France approaches its third week, and seven days after French authorities stopped pretending to sympathize with the vandals and started calling it what it is — “urban violence” — the global left has turned its attention to the real problem: police’s response to the rioting.

“This is state violence, and it’s horrible seeing police allowed to target children,” one 17-year-old student said of the “deliberate” and “institutionalized” brutality meted out to students demonstrating, ostensibly, for better conditions in schools. “Everyone hates the police,” the children chanted.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.

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As the rioting in France approaches its third week, and seven days after French authorities stopped pretending to sympathize with the vandals and started calling it what it is — “urban violence” — the global left has turned its attention to the real problem: police’s response to the rioting.

“This is state violence, and it’s horrible seeing police allowed to target children,” one 17-year-old student said of the “deliberate” and “institutionalized” brutality meted out to students demonstrating, ostensibly, for better conditions in schools. “Everyone hates the police,” the children chanted.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.