PERHAPS the most unfortunate aspect of the latest French popular uprising is that it may well facilitate Marine Le Pen’s journey to the Élysée Palace. The far-right contender for the presidency poses as the law-and-order saviour for a France that no longer exists, focusing — like the Trump regime — on immigration as the source of every societal woe.

The unrest that erupted in September with students from a couple of public high schools complaining about shrinking resources and inadequate facilities ballooned into a much broader rebellion. By last weekend, the protests had extended beyond disenchanted pupils and their parents and teachers to a far wider cross-section of society complaining about the cost of living — alongside the usual panoply of vandals, looters, and arsonists. The latter were on the fringes of largely peaceful demonstrations but inevitably grabbed the headlines, featuring images of shattered shopfronts and the historic Limoges town hall in flames.

To be fair, though, almost every report I came across acknowledged the carnivalesque aspect of the huge marches, distinguishing it from the criminality of opportunist gangs. Even President Emmanuel Macron made that distinction in his unimpressive address to the nation........

© Dawn