Last weekend’s horrifying riots — only the most violent expression of the unrest that has plagued France for over a month — seem to have chastened the country’s notoriously permissive political class.
French President Emmanuel Macron blamed the catastrophe that unfolded on October 17 and 18, in which 3,000 stores were looted and over a thousand police officers were wounded amid the arrest of 2,700 rioters, on “seditious” elements within the French “ultra-left.” He implemented localized curfews while the Interior Ministry promised 20 percent more police as well as a military presence on the ground across the country this weekend. Authorities promised to be “uncompromising” toward “all those who will commit atrocities,” but local French officials have not inspired confidence.
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