France fights back

By: Javohir Aminov, News Editor

This past weekend, around 2,400 people in Paris have been arrested for violent rioting, looting and vandalism. Paris, France has been experiencing violent riots that have brought forth destruction to the streets and its people. Many videos online show shop owners desperately trying to stop looters from robbing their stores and others setting fire to buildings like the city hall in Limoges, France.

On top of the looting and arson attacks, there have been multiple accounts where French citizens have been dressing up as characters from fictional movies, shows and games. The Power Rangers, Pink Panther and King Midas from Fortnite have all been spotted taking their stance against the government and encouraging crowds to do the same.

These nationwide protests have been fueled by the neglect of citizens from the government, regarding poor school conditions, teacher shortages, living expenses and high gas prices. High schools and universities demanded more funding from the government to get better education and conditions, but were disregarded and that led up to the protests. 

France will be passing a law that will completely ban illegitimate protests in Marseille and Lyon. The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, states that only authorized union protests will be allowed this upcoming weekend. 

A curfew has been issued in some parts of Paris like the Place de la République and the Les Halles shopping district. According to police, they state that this curfew will bring back public peace and would remain in place “for as long as necessary.”

Further implementations in Marseille have also been set in order to keep France safe. They established targeted curfews, specifically for unaccompanied minors, which was said by the Prime Minister of France, Sébastien Lecornu, that it “helped keep last night calm.”

Interior Minister, Latent Nuñez, has said that they’ll be deploying soldiers from Sentinelle, an anti-terrorism mission, to patrol the streets of French cities to allow police officers and gendarmes to maintain civil order and manage the masses.

A researcher from the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), has pointed out the date these protests intensified, Oct. 17, is the anniversary of the 1961 Paris massacre where Algerians, who had residency in Paris, were killed by National Police.

She draws the connection between these events saying that “the first protest groups were not ideologically aligned with political Islam, but were students from immigrant suburbs, driven by education concerns.” She further claims that certain Islam groups were fighting on behalf of their people and wanted justice.