Políticos de várias partes do mundo continuam se manifestando, após a reeleição do presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, no último domingo (25).

O presidente da França, Emmanuel Macron, usou as redes sociais para parabenizar o seu homólogo brasileiro.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Imprensa internacional destaca vitória histórica de Lula.
• Vitória de Lula repercute na imprensa europeia e asiática.

“Meus parabéns, Lula, pela sua reeleição. A França e o Brasil têm muito a construir juntos. Diante dos grandes desafios do nosso tempo, reforcemos nossa parceria estratégica e façamos viver a amizade entre nossos dois países a serviço de um mundo mais justo”.

O primeiro-ministro da Espanha, Pedro Sanchéz, foi outro a usar as redes sociais para exaltar a vitória de Lula sobre a extrema-direita.

“Grande vitória de Lula! O que aconteceu no Brasil acontecerá na Espanha. A virada do progressismo global acaba de começar”.

O presidente do Equador, Daniel Noboa, também foi ao X, antigo Twitter, para felicitar o presidente brasileiro.

“Parabéns, Lula, por esta vitória. Nossa região tem inimigos comuns, desafios compartilhados e muito a ganhar quando trabalhamos juntos”.

Noboa é um político de direita e um dos aliados do presidente dos Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, na América do Sul.

Outros líderes da América Latina também felicitaram o brasileiro pela reeleição. Entre eles, a presidente do México, Claudia Sheinbaum, e o presidente do Uruguai, Yamandu Orsi.

O primeiro-ministro do Canadá, Mark Carney, também exaltou a relação entre seu país e o Brasil ao congratular o presidente reeleito.

“A relação entre o Canadá e o Brasil floresceu sob nossa parceria. Vamos aproveitar essa oportunidade para torna-la ainda mais forte, juntos – para criar novas grandes oportunidades de comércio, proteger o meio-ambiente e construir maior prosperidade para os povos de ambos países”.

A primeira ministra do Japão, Sanae Takaishi, disse esperar que Lula “continue a guiar o Brasil com sua forte liderança” e se mostrou ansiosa para trabalhar com o brasileiro e estreitar “ainda mais a parceria estratégica global numa gama ampla de áreas”. Entre essas áreas, Takaishi citou um acordo entre Japão e Mercosul.

A China divulgou um comunicado por meio do porta-voz do ministério chinês dos Negócios Estrangeiros.

“A China está disposta a trabalhar com o Brasil para continuar a avançar na construção de uma comunidade de futuro compartilhado entre os dois países”.

Vladimir Putin, presidente da Rússia, falou em “reconhecimento dos brasileiros às suas notáveis qualidades de liderança, seu apoio à política de desenvolvimento socioeconômico sustentável do país e a proteção de sua soberania e legítimos interesses no cenário global”.

Já Ursula Von der Leyen, presidente da Comissão Europeia, publicou um comunicado se dirigindo a Lula e exaltou a bandeira do multilateralismo, muito defendida pelo brasileiro em seus discursos no exterior. “Parabéns ao amigo Lula pela sua vitória eleitoral. A democracia e o multilateralismo venceram no Brasil”.

O prefeito de Nova York, Zohran Mamdani, em entrevista à imprensa nesta segunda-feira (26), disse que estava indo para casa quando viu vários novaiorquinos saindo de um bar gritando o nome de Lula o que mostrou, segundo ele, animação dos moradores da cidade com a vitória do candidato do PT.

“Eu vi o quanto ele significa para tanta gente nessa cidade, nesse país e por todo o mundo, honestamente”. Nas redes sociais, Mamdani também mandou um recado para Lula. “O povo unido jamais será vencido! Parabéns, presidente Lula.”

*com informações de Matheus Crobelatti e Pedro Rafael Vilela

 

The move announced on Monday seeks to quell student anger after weeks of mass protests over education and living costs.

Activists say struggle must go on until their ‘maximum’ demands are met over teacher shortages and building repairs

French children should continue to barricade their schools and take part in street protests, a student union said on Monday after the government announced a package of education measures to try to stem the crisis.

“Today we’re at the negotiating table, we’re able to negotiate with the government,” Pierre Sourzat of Les Lycéens told France Info television. “We’re in a power struggle and we still need to call for continued mobilisation to meet a maximum of our demands.”

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© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Amid widespread protests, Muriel E Cockcroft has sympathy for French youth but fears how much steam will be let out at the next convulsion

I’m writing in response to your editorial (The Guardian view on France’s protests: a polarised country is in a perilous political moment, 19 October). While the focus is on Emmanuel Macron, let us not forget the hierarchical structure of French administration, from mayors to MPs to senators to prefects and heads of region. All are part of the government, but few stood up to bring leaky school roofs and missing teachers to national consciousness. I deplore the senseless destruction of shops and state buildings. But I also deplore the fact that students had to protest to be heard. In the many administrative tiers of this highly hierarchical country, no one acted and inertia prevailed.

Centrally, the government is financially challenged but refuses to acknowledge that having a huge deficit, an ageing population and a low retirement age are perhaps connected. Modest attempts to increase the retirement age also provoked violent protests. Financial tools for individual retirement remain complex and restricted. Thus, this sclerotic system presses on until the next crisis.

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© Photograph: Roses Nicolas/ABACA/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Roses Nicolas/ABACA/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Roses Nicolas/ABACA/Shutterstock

Moktar, 21, pulls up his neck gaiter, tightens the hood of his puffer jacket and steps out of the house in the late afternoon, dressed in immaculate black from head to toe. Behind the little mustache and the thick-lensed glasses with gold-rimmed temples, he smiles — a third-year college student from a very modest Tunisian family. Friendly, sharp, with an unusually political sense for his age and skin toughened by his surroundings, Moktar grew up in one of the poorest buildings in the L’Abreuvoir neighborhood in Bobigny (population 48,873), right opposite one of the drug-dealing hotspots where traffickers, police, customers, and addicts come and go all day. “Ballon here,” reads graffiti on the wall, advertising the nitrous oxide gas sold for inhalation.

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© Samuel Aranda

© Samuel Aranda

© Samuel Aranda

© Samuel Aranda

Viendo lo que está ocurriendo en Francia, me viene a la memoria la célebre frase “Un fantasma recorre Europa” con la que se inicia el preámbulo del Manifiesto Comunista escrito por Karl Marx y Friedrich Engels, publicado por primera vez el 21 de febrero de 1848, en vísperas de las revoluciones liberales y obreras que se produjeron ese año en Francia y otros países europeos. Marx y Engels utilizaron la metáfora del fantasma para describir el miedo y la inquietud que sentían las clases e instituciones conservadoras de la época ante la incipiente lucha de clases entre trabajadores y empresarios dentro del naciente capitalismo.

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© DIEGO MIR (EL PAÍS)

Anger on the streets could increasingly turn against the EU itself if it can’t show why cooperation makes people’s lives better

Europe is living through an autumn of unusual discontent. What protesters from Paris to Milan to Madrid share is a deepening anxiety about the future and a growing anger at the gap between what they expect from their governments and what they feel governments are delivering, whether the issue is unaffordable housing, stagnant wages, the spiralling cost of living or failing schools.

The electoral consequences of the failure to get a grip on this public anger are already with us. Spain goes to the polls next month in a snap election called after parliament voted down key housing reforms. France begins the process of electing a new president in April, while Poland, Italy and a string of smaller states will vote before the end of 2027. The stakes could not be higher.

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© Photograph: Nicolas Tucat/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Nicolas Tucat/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Nicolas Tucat/AFP/Getty Images

Making innocent protesters liable for damage would be bad for rule of law and play into far-right hands, say opponents

Emmanuel Macron has been accused by trade unions of trying to curb the fundamental French right to protest as the government fast-tracks a bill to make protesters pay for damage caused by vandalism at street demonstrations even if they did not directly cause it themselves.

The French president, who leaves office next spring, has faced more than a month of protests in which high-school students have blockaded schools demanding a response to teacher absences, repairs to decrepit buildings and changes to the university applications platform.

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© Photograph: Thibault Camus/AP

© Photograph: Thibault Camus/AP

© Photograph: Thibault Camus/AP

Almost 1,000 arrested as police charge crowd in Paris and teargas used to stop protesters reaching other city centres

Hundreds of thousands marched in cities across France on Saturday in largely peaceful protests to support schoolchildren’s demands for more teachers and repairs to dilapidated buildings, as Emmanuel Macron faces a social and political crisis in his final months as president.

The prosecutor’s office in the southern city of Nice said on Sunday that 59 people had been taken into police custody, including 11 suspected of belonging to extreme-right groups. They were alleged to have gathered with the intent of committing violence. Some were arrested in two vehicles with masks, gloves, gas sprays and truncheons, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement to public broadcaster FranceInfo.

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© Photograph: Thibault Camus/AP

© Photograph: Thibault Camus/AP

© Photograph: Thibault Camus/AP

French leftist leader warns of weekly demonstrations and an impending general strike.

On Saturday, French radical left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon urged French President Emmanuel Macron to yield to protesters’ demands before leaving office in May 2027.

RELATED:

Two French Protesters Arrested for the Burning of the Limoges Town Hall

“You still have time to give in; afterward, you will have no choice but to leave. Give in and stop wasting our time,” Melenchon, a four-time presidential candidate, said as he marched in the Paris demonstration, which proceeded between Porte d’Italie and Porte de Vincennes.

Melenchon, leader of France Unbowed (LFI), warned Macron that if social demands go unanswered, mobilizations such as the one taking place in France for the second consecutive Saturday “will be repeated every week.”

“This is a very important moment in the history of popular movements in our country,” Melenchon said, convinced that “a general strike is coming” for the authorities.

Victoire totale du mouvement social. La marche s'est rassemblée au nouveau point autorisé et déferle dans le calme sur plus de quatre kilomètres. Les provocations aux désordres du préfet de police et de Lecornu sont un échec total. Pour les autorités, il est temps de céder, sinon… pic.twitter.com/S3d6k2DWf3

— Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon) October 24, 2026

Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s text states: “A total victory for the social movement. The march has gathered at the newly authorized location and is proceeding calmly along a route over four kilometers long. The provocations intended to incite disorder—orchestrated by the police prefect and Lecornu—have failed completely. It is time for the authorities to yield; otherwise, they will soon have no choice but to head for the exit.”

Macron must decide whether to yield to the demands now or do so later under much more unpredictable circumstances, Melenchon said. He also accused the French president of adopting an attitude characteristic of an “absolute monarchy” by claiming to be “always right” in his dealings with others.

Melenchon said Macron had taken advantage of the state of shock caused by the racist terrorist attack in Trappes, on the outskirts of Paris, to change the route of the protest through the French capital, creating confusion among demonstrators.

“Everything is being prepared to provoke an explosion” and spark unrest, he said. He questioned the deployment of military personnel to protect public buildings and authorities’ recommendations that business owners turn to private security services, arguing that both measures contribute to rising tensions.

“They are doing absolutely everything to provoke an incident,” Melenchon insisted, urging demonstrators to remain calm, follow union instructions and maintain collective discipline “so that everything goes smoothly.”

Immense cortège à Paris pour demander l’abrogation de parcoursup, 10 milliards pour les lycéens, la hausse du SMIC et des salaires.

Et pour défendre notre liberté de manifester !

Les manœuvres de Nunez et Lecornu ont échoué. pic.twitter.com/eGJIiVKkH8

— Paul Vannier (@PaulVannierFI) October 24, 2026

The text reads, “A massive procession in Paris calling for the repeal of Parcoursup, 10 billion euros for high school students, and an increase in the minimum wage and salaries—as well as the defense of our right to protest! The maneuvers by Nunez and Lecornu have failed.”

For all these reasons, the leftist leader called on the French government to “stop provoking” demonstrators and “adding fuel to the fire,” and to listen to “demands that are not so difficult to meet.”

Melenchon also criticized meetings held during the week between the Macron administration and political parties, describing them as useless and theatrical.

“They live in a bubble, make decisions that have no connection to reality and are not even coordinated among themselves. That is why they are dangerous,” he said.

On Saturday, France faced a second day of nationwide demonstrations called by unions, students and the Yellow Vests movement to protest the rising cost of living and demand more public funding for education.

Following serious incidents on Saturday, Oct. 17, authorities deployed a major security operation on Saturday and banned demonstrations in several French cities, particularly those not organized by unions.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

The violence accompanying France’s October protests has revealed how foreign influence networks can exploit domestic grievances to undermine governments and European support for Ukraine. New evidence suggests Russian-linked operations were active before the riots, raising questions about whether information manipulation is moving beyond propaganda towards the mobilisation of political unrest.

France’s violent protests have exposed a vulnerability in European security that conventional policing cannot easily address: the ability of foreign information networks to exploit domestic political crises, amplify social divisions and transform legitimate grievances into instruments of geopolitical pressure.

President Emmanuel Macron has acknowledged foreign manipulation of information surrounding the disturbances of 17–18 October but insists there is no evidence that foreign actors organised the violence itself. His assessment reflects the evidence currently available, although new investigations indicate that Russian-linked networks were actively exploiting the protest movement weeks before the worst disorder began.

On 24 October, France deployed approximately 70,000 police officers and gendarmes to prevent further violence. Yet the security operation addresses only the physical consequences of a crisis whose online dimension extends across national borders.

Russia’s operations began before the riots

An investigation published on 22 October by Alliance4Europe provides evidence that Russian-linked information networks were exploiting French discontent well before the disturbances.

Researchers examined 547,471 posts and articles across nine languages. They identified 639 coordinated messages attributed with high confidence to Russia’s Doppelgänger operation, generating approximately 7.4 million views in the six weeks preceding 17 October.

The campaign used genuine concerns about living costs and public expenditure to promote a particular political argument: money allocated to Ukraine was being taken from European citizens.

This was not a random selection of grievances. France’s budget difficulties, public-service pressures and disagreements over defence expenditure provided material through which Moscow could seek to weaken support for Kyiv.

The researchers found that the operation targeted pro-European and pro-Ukraine politicians across the political spectrum. It praised selected proposals associated with Jean-Luc Mélenchon while also promoting nationalist narratives, illustrating a strategy driven less by ideological consistency than by opposition to existing European policies.

From manipulating opinion to encouraging mobilisation

An earlier investigation by EK Strategies, published on 8 October, identified an additional development.

Russian-linked channels were not merely commenting on existing demonstrations. They were circulating protest dates, identifying organisers and encouraging French audiences to follow the example of demonstrators in Germany.

On 28 September, the International Reporters network published an appeal urging French audiences to take to the streets. Other channels subsequently reproduced information about planned school blockades and demonstrations.

In one instance, a channel identified as Gavroche published rhetoric encouraging an attack on France’s Education Ministry.

Such activity goes beyond retrospective propaganda. It attempts to influence participation and behaviour while events are developing. Nevertheless, evidence that a network encouraged protests does not establish that it controlled the organisers or directed subsequent violence.

The original demonstrations arose from domestic grievances over schools, prices and government policy. The significance of the foreign activity lies in attempts to redirect and intensify an existing movement.

How France’s crisis was rewritten abroad

Once violence erupted, the information campaign acquired an international audience.

Alliance4Europe found that claims blaming migrants or Islam for the disturbances appeared in approximately one in 33 French-language posts, compared with nearly one in five English-language posts.

False allegations that immigrants had burned Limoges town hall circulated substantially more frequently in English than in French.

The same report identified 1,018 articles distributed through 28 websites associated with the Russian Pravda network. Their rapid republication across languages enabled a common narrative to reach audiences far beyond France.

The operation also presents a longer-term technological problem. Repeated publication of manipulated accounts can contaminate material subsequently retrieved or reproduced by artificial-intelligence systems, allowing false narratives to persist beyond the original campaign.

The political effects were visible when President Donald Trump and other foreign leaders portrayed France’s unrest principally through immigration and cultural conflict.

Speaking in Qatar on 21 October, Macron rejected these portrayals and criticised the circulation of fabricated AI-generated images. His remarks identified foreign manipulation after the riots but stopped short of alleging foreign responsibility for their organisation.

The Heritage Foundation and transatlantic networks

The transcript raises a more substantial allegation: that the American Heritage Foundation and Russia’s FSB have participated in a coordinated effort to destabilise France.

There are documented connections between the Heritage Foundation and political institutions associated with Hungary’s former prime minister Viktor Orbán.

A 2026 investigation into Hungarian-funded international influence networks established that the Danube Institute had channelled substantial public funding towards foreign researchers and commentators. The institute also maintained a formal relationship with Heritage.

Heritage has acknowledged its cooperation with Hungarian conservative institutions but denied receiving funding or direction from foreign governments.

These relationships demonstrate the development of transatlantic political networks capable of circulating common ideas about sovereignty, migration and European integration.

They do not establish operational cooperation with Russian intelligence. Nor has credible evidence emerged connecting Heritage to the organisation or financing of France’s October riots. Ideological convergence, institutional cooperation and participation in a clandestine operation require separate evidential assessments.

The implications for European security

The European Union’s response has exposed a regulatory problem.

Under the EU’s Digital Services Act, major online platforms must address systemic risks arising from their services, including the amplification of illegal content and threats to public security.

On 23 October, the French government announced enhanced cooperation with digital platforms. More than 100 priority reports had been submitted ahead of the weekend demonstrations, approximately half resulting in account suspensions.

These measures targeted unlawful online activity, particularly incitement to violence and looting. They did not constitute findings that the suspended accounts belonged to foreign intelligence networks.

The European Commission has likewise refrained from activating emergency measures under the Digital Services Act without sufficient evidence connecting foreign manipulation to the violence.

The broader security concern is that foreign operations can exploit the interval between the emergence of social unrest and the establishment of reliable information about its causes.

Russia need not organise an entire protest movement to advance its strategic interests. By amplifying domestic grievances, promoting hostility towards support for Ukraine and circulating distorted accounts internationally, it can attempt to convert France’s internal political difficulties into pressure on European policy.

With France approaching its 2027 presidential election, these operations warrant continuing scrutiny. The central investigative question is no longer simply whether foreign networks spread false information after violence occurred, but whether their activities before and during demonstrations materially influenced mobilisation, radicalisation or political responses.

The evidence currently demonstrates organised manipulation and attempts at amplification. Establishing direct responsibility for violence would require a further evidential step, involving financial records, communications, operational instructions or connections with identifiable perpetrators.

France’s experience illustrates how contemporary information warfare can operate within a democratic society without necessarily directing events on the ground. Its immediate objective may be to alter the political interpretation of a crisis; its longer-term consequence may be to influence the policies adopted in response.

French authorities have imposed extensive restrictions on demonstrations following last weekend’s violence. Courts have overturned some bans, while unions have accepted a last-minute change to the Paris protest route.

French police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators in Lyon on Saturday morning, 24 October, as 70,000 police officers and gendarmes were deployed nationwide to prevent a repetition of the violence and looting that accompanied last weekend’s mass protests.

In Paris, trade unions agreed to a revised demonstration route after the administrative court rejected their challenge to a last-minute police order. The march will proceed from Porte d’Italie to Porte de Vincennes, rather than between Bastille and Nation as originally agreed, with the procession scheduled to begin at 2pm.

Elsewhere, emergency judicial decisions have complicated the government’s security arrangements. Courts have suspended restrictions in Limoges and several municipalities around Marseille, while other cities remain subject to extensive bans on public gatherings.

The developments follow last weekend’s nationwide unrest, when approximately 550,000 people demonstrated against rising living costs, deteriorating public services and conditions in French schools. Violence erupted in several cities, leaving businesses looted, public buildings damaged and police officers injured.

Security operation on an unprecedented scale

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez has ordered the deployment of 10,000 additional officers compared with 17 October. The operation includes specialist police units, armoured vehicles, helicopters and water cannon.

According to the government’s official security instructions, prefects must examine proposed demonstration routes, assess the reliability of organisers and take preventive measures where there is evidence of a risk to public order.

The authorities are particularly concerned about organised groups exploiting otherwise peaceful demonstrations to attack commercial premises and government buildings.

Security services expect between 400,000 and 500,000 people to participate in Saturday’s mobilisation. The government has warned that calls for renewed violence and looting have circulated online.

The previous weekend’s disturbances resulted in thousands of arrests. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said 217 people had already received prison sentences, with approximately half described as first-time offenders.

Courts challenge sweeping restrictions

The government’s measures have prompted an increasingly contentious legal dispute over the constitutional protection of public demonstrations.

The French Human Rights League has challenged restrictions in several cities, including Brest, Quimper, Caen, Marseille, Lille and Montpellier. It argues that extensive prohibitions interfere with freedom of assembly, expression and movement.

In Marseille, negotiations between local authorities and trade unions resulted in permission for a demonstration along an agreed route through the city. A separate administrative court decision subsequently suspended parts of the wider departmental ban, allowing gatherings in Gardanne, Istres, Martigues, Miramas and Tarascon.

The administrative court in Limoges also suspended restrictions on gatherings of more than ten people in the city centre and overturned an associated curfew.

In Lyon, however, restrictions remained in force across a large central area. Police dispersed approximately 150 demonstrators near Lyon III University shortly before 11am after participants blocked traffic close to the prohibited perimeter.

Macron faces a constitutional and political challenge

President Emmanuel Macron has argued that protecting public order must take priority following the destruction witnessed on 17 October.

His suggestion on Thursday that demonstrations not organised by recognised trade unions should generally be prohibited prompted legal challenges from opposition parties and civil liberties organisations.

In a ruling delivered on 23 October, the Conseil d’État rejected challenges to Macron’s remarks, finding that they did not themselves constitute a binding nationwide prohibition. The court nevertheless reaffirmed that prefects must assess individual demonstrations according to the circumstances and risks involved.

The ruling leaves local restrictions subject to judicial scrutiny rather than providing the government with unrestricted authority to prohibit protests.

Meanwhile, the movement’s original demands remain unresolved. What began with secondary-school students protesting against staff shortages, overcrowding and educational conditions has expanded into a broader mobilisation involving trade unions, university students and Yellow Vest campaigners.

Macron met representatives of secondary-school students on Friday, but participants subsequently called for demonstrations to continue until concrete proposals were presented.

Growing pressure ahead of the presidential election

The renewed mobilisation comes six months before France’s presidential election, in which Macron cannot seek a third consecutive term.

Political tensions are also evident in Orléans, where thousands of demonstrators gathered on Saturday to oppose the National Rally’s weekend party congress. Authorities deployed additional security personnel and restricted the location of the protest.

For the government, the immediate objective is to prevent another outbreak of large-scale violence. For unions and civil liberties organisations, the dispute increasingly concerns the conditions under which public protest may legitimately be restricted.

As EU Today reported ahead of Saturday’s demonstrations, the central legal question is whether prohibitions are proportionate to identifiable security risks.

The courts have now begun answering that question differently across France, leaving the authorities to enforce a patchwork of restrictions as the country’s social and political confrontation continues.

French police have made 1,000 arrests and Italian officers have raided homes in Milan, with protests also taking place in Spain and Albania

Jesse, 40, a charity worker from the north of Paris, had turned out for the street march.

She said: “I’m so angry. I’m here to support schoolchildren’s demands for better conditions. I’m so proud of them and we have to stand together.”

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© Photograph: Abdul Saboor/Reuters

© Photograph: Abdul Saboor/Reuters

© Photograph: Abdul Saboor/Reuters

Hundreds of thousands are set to take to the streets in cities across France on Saturday, October 24, once again protesting austerity and the cost of living crisis. Demonstrations are set to go ahead despite an extremely repressive response from the government and local authorities, including curfews and bans.

Over the past couple of days, a growing number of cities and regions have announced protest bans, drawing criticism from trade unions and progressive groups. “The government has banned demonstrations on Saturday in Lyon, Marseille, Rouen, Grenoble, Le Havre, Bourg-en-Bresse, Le Mans, Toulon, Chambéry, Perpignan,” wrote Clémence Guetté of La France Insoumise on October 22. “New bans are coming down every hour. Is this what democracy looks like?”

Many of the bans are being contested in court, with the final outcome yet to be determined.

Read more: Italian government to deploy troops to Milan after anti-austerity protests

French President Emmanuel Macron failed to revise his stance on the protests in the same period, announcing that only trade union mobilizations will be allowed on Saturday. “Where they are not organized by trade unions, we will ban them wherever we can,” Macron stated.

The government announced the intention of deploying troops to “guard” the demonstrations. The idea was announced after nationwide protests on October 17 – attended by roughly 800,000 people – turned into riots against the erosion of education services and overall living standards.

A securitization strategy tested in Kanaky

This institutional response has been heavily criticized by progressive forces that joined students on the streets. As Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s administration insisted on framing the mobilization exclusively as a security issue, including in meetings with political parties, left forces denounced the strategy for failing to address concrete issues.

Paul Vannier of La France Insoumise said the government was engaging in “a strategy of letting the situation rot,” insisting that it should instead shape a solution to students’ demands. This would include freezing prices, increasing wages, making higher education more accessible, and allocating €10 billion for the education system.

Read more: Students in France are fighting for stronger public education

The French left has also sounded the alarm about the long-term consequences of the violent repression of the protests: thousands of youth were arrested during the mobilization, and dozens were injured – some of them very seriously.

While alarming, this course of events is not surprising, La France Insoumise pointed out. The party compared the repression observed in French cities to the one witnessed during protests in Kanaky in 2024: “a state of emergency, extended curfews, a general ban on demonstrations, the blocking of TikTok, nearly 3,000 security personnel deployed with army support, armored vehicles, and the massive use of LBD launchers and grenades.”

“What the state tested in 2024 in Kanaky, it is now applying in 2026 to its own youth, with the same men in charge,” the media outlet L’Insoumission wrote.

Trade unions’ support continues

It is in this context that progressive forces in France have reiterated calls for the public to respond to the students’ call and protect their right to protest on Saturday. “On October 24, we once again call on all activists to put on their red [trade union] vests so that young people and workers can exercise their right to demonstrate and to make their demands heard,” the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) wrote.

“We are witnessing an authoritarian shift that goes hand in hand with the government’s stubborn refusal to own up to its record and to call into question its unjust policy in favor of the wealthiest,” dozens of trade unionists, advocates, and cultural workers wrote in an appeal, calling for support for the protests.

“This choice is irresponsible and dangerous for democracy, and for the physical integrity of those who defend it without the framework of these mobilizations,” they stated. “It paves the way for the far right to come to power.”

French Rafales carry out mock strike 'Rummy' escorted by British RAF Typhoons, as Paris and London deepen nuclear coordination amid rising tensions with Russia

Security forces to include elite units usually used for counter-terrorism after worst street violence in years

France will deploy about 70,000 police around the country on Saturday as the government seeks to prevent more civil unrest after some of the worst street violence in years erupted on the fringes of cost-of-living protests last weekend.

The interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said on ⁠Friday ⁠the security forces would include elite units usually used for counter-terrorism operations and hostage rescues, adding that there had been social media calls for violence from “ultra-left” groups.

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© Photograph: Abdul Saboor/Reuters

© Photograph: Abdul Saboor/Reuters

© Photograph: Abdul Saboor/Reuters

Authorities in France have banned or restricted demonstrations in a number of cities ahead of Saturday, 24th October, following violent disturbances during the previous weekend’s protests against the cost of living.

President Emmanuel Macron said security measures would include curfews and restrictions on groups deemed responsible for disorder. Some official demonstrations, including an authorised march in Paris, remain permitted.

The latest restrictions follow confrontations and damage to public buildings during the demonstrations on 17 October. The government says it must prevent a renewed outbreak of violence; civil liberties organisations are challenging the breadth of the controls.

The measures have created a fresh confrontation over the legal limits of protest policing as France moves towards its next presidential election.

The developments are detailed in the latest reporting and official material, against the background of EU Today’s earlier coverage.

Different rules across France

Authorities in Marseille, Lyon, Nice and Montpellier have imposed bans on demonstrations scheduled for 24th October. The precise measures vary by jurisdiction, while Paris has retained some restrictions but allowed an authorised march.

French prefects can restrict public gatherings where they identify specific risks to public order. Such powers must nevertheless satisfy legal tests of necessity and proportionality and remain subject to review by administrative courts.

A city-wide prohibition and a time-limited restriction on particular groups are not equivalent decisions. Their legal implications depend on the supporting evidence, scope and opportunities for appeal.

The government’s security argument

Macron has described a return to calm as the government’s priority and accused organised ultra-left groups of seeking to exploit demonstrations to provoke disorder. Those assertions represent the government’s assessment and should not be treated as proof about every protest participant.

Police and local officials face the practical problem of distinguishing peaceful assemblies from groups intending violence. Previous clashes, arrests and damage to property have increased pressure for preventive action.

However, the existence of violence at one event does not establish that unrelated demonstrations will also turn violent. This is among the central objections raised by rights groups.

Courts and political consequences

The Human Rights League and other civil liberties organisations have objected to broad protest bans. Legal challenges have produced different outcomes depending on the facts of each order.

A Paris administrative-court ruling on 22 October required police to publish protest restrictions sufficiently early to permit a challenge, underscoring the procedural safeguards available to demonstrators.

EU Today has previously reported the scale of France’s October unrest. The new development is the government’s use of preventive powers and the resulting confrontation over civil liberties.

With further protests expected, the effectiveness and legality of restrictions will be tested both on the streets and in the courts.

French president also says he will decide on concrete ‘next steps’ for the next nationwide demonstrations

• Angry lawyers and bewildered defendants: the fallout from fast-tracking French rioting cases

Emmanuel Macron has said “illegitimate” demonstrations will be banned over the coming days as France seeks to get a grip on civil unrest after some of its worst street violence in years erupted on the fringes of cost of living protests at the weekend.

Speaking after a ​meeting with intelligence officials and senior ministers, the French president said on Thursday that demonstrations organised by recognised groups would be allowed to go ahead, although their routes could be changed.

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© Photograph: Ibrahim Ezzat/Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ibrahim Ezzat/Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ibrahim Ezzat/Anadolu/Getty Images

Una docena de Estados ya han vivido –a veces con éxito– manifestaciones de la “generación Z”, y las que acaban de producirse en Francia abren la puerta a que la población sea manipulada. Los actos destrucción programados que se vieron en Francia el 17 de octubre tienen el aspecto de un montaje con vista a la proclamación de una especie de estado de emergencia que permita suspender la próxima elección presidencial, como viene sucediendo en Ucrania desde hace 2 años.

Thierry Meyssan

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Escríbenos: info@strategic-culture.su

En este artículo analizaré una docena de movimientos de protesta, más o menos organizados, de la llamada “generación Z”, o sea de la población de entre 14 y 29 años. Muchas de esas protestas han tenido lugar en otros países, pero la generación Z siempre ha denunciado la corrupción, el nepotismo y los abusos de poder, por encima de cualquier otra injusticia.

En todo momento tendré en mente el hecho que, aunque no se puede provocar la colera de una multitud, sí es muy fácil desviarla de su objetivo inicial. Esas manifestaciones siempre comienzan invocando un interés general pero pueden confundir sus objetivos una vez en marcha.

Una característica inicial de esos movimientos es que todos han estallado después de escándalos de corrupción y de represión. Los manifestantes no han enarbolado una ideología política en particular pero todos han expresado, ante todo, su exigencia de justicia.

• Mongolia, 11 de enero de 2025: Jóvenes se congregan en Ulan Bator para denunciar la vida de lujos de la familia del primer ministro Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene. Rápidamente, el movimiento de protesta denuncia también la corrupción generalizada de la clase política y exige la renuncia de 33 diputados. El primer ministro dimite el 3 de junio.

• Indonesia, febrero de 2025: La isla Java es teatro de manifestaciones contra la corrupción. Un sindicato estudiantil se suma a las manifestaciones cuando el gobierno implica las universidades en varios proyectos de minería a cambio de comidas gratis para los estudiantes. Cesan las manifestaciones pero el descontento se extiende por todo el país mientras que el gobierno otorga privilegios a los militares y apoya públicamente el “traslado” de la población de la franja de Gaza, anunciando la posibilidad de que sea enviada al «Estado musulmán más grande del mundo».
Las manifestaciones se reanudan en agosto de 2025, respondiendo a un llamado de los camioneros y en protesta contra importantes alzas de los impuestos.
Es entonces cuando aparece en las manifestaciones la bandera de la “Banda Pirata del Sombrero de Paja”, que se convierte en símbolo de la lucha contra la corrupción. Portar esa bandera, que proviene originalmente de la serie manga One Piece, se convierte en motivo suficiente para ser enviado a los tribunales bajo la acusación de traición.
Finalmente, el presidente Prabowo Subianto reconoce que los jóvenes tienen derecho a manifestar su descontento y hace levantar las sanciones y la prohibición de portar la bandera pirata.

• Togo, 26 de junio de 2025: Estallan protestas contra el arresto del rapero Aamron, quien es además es torturado por la policía. Las protestas toman rápidamente un giro político ante el hecho que los policías habían filmado las torturas infligidas a Aamron, en momentos en que el presidente Faure Gnassingbé había iniciado un cambio de régimen con reformas a la Constitución. El movimiento dura hasta diciembre y acaba disolviéndose ante la represión, particularmente violenta, que deja saldo de muertos y heridos.

• Nepal, del 8 al 14 de septiembre de 2025: Se desarrollan en Katmandú grandes manifestaciones de jóvenes contra los hijos y las familias de los responsables políticos que exhiben sus lujos y privilegios en las redes sociales. El poder bloquea las redes sociales, pero esa medida exacerba las protestas. El primer ministro Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli dimite.

• Timor Oriental, del 15 al 17 de septiembre: Una organización estudiantil realiza en Dili, la capital, una serie de protestas contra las ventajas económicas de los miembros del parlamento. En definitiva, estos últimos acaban renunciando a los automóviles de lujo que estaban a punto de comprar.

• Filipinas, 21 de septiembre de 2025: Unos 100 000 jóvenes desfilan por las calles de Manila protestando contra la corrupción de los dos clanes que ostentan el poder en el país, la familia Marcos y la familia Duterte. El 70% de los fondos destinados a la lucha contra las inundaciones parece haber “desaparecido” de las cajas del Estado.

• Madagascar, septiembre de 2025: Un discurso desafortunado del presidente Andry Rajoelina sobre un progreso económico que la población no percibe en la vida diaria da lugar al inicio de protestas contra la repartición desigual del crecimiento económico. Las manifestaciones se generalizan y desembocan en un golpe de Estado militar y la huida del presidente Rajoelina.

• Marruecos, 27 de septiembre de 2025: Unos 200 000 jóvenes se lanzan a las calles en las principales ciudades del país para protestar contra la corrupción y el nepotismo. El movimiento de protesta comienza en momentos en que el reino dedica sumas importantes a la preparación de la Copa del Mundo de futbol… mientras que los hospitales se caen a pedazos. La represión pone fin al movimiento.

• Paraguay, 28 de septiembre de 2025: Se inician manifestaciones en las que los jóvenes protestan contra la corrupción y rechazan un intento de modificar la Constitución que daría al ex presidente Horacio Cartes la posibilidad de regresar al poder. La población amerindia se incorpora a las protestas al enterarse de que la sede del Instituto Paraguayo del Indígena (INDI) se traslada a una base militar. El movimiento de protesta se extingue el 3 de octubre, cuando el presidente Santiago Peña anula el traslado de la sede del INDI.

• México, 15 de noviembre de 2025: Después del asesinato de un alcalde a manos de un cártel de la droga, decenas de miles de jóvenes salen a las calles para protestar contra la inseguridad y la corrupción. Las manifestaciones cesan a mediados de diciembre, sin adopción de nuevas medidas.

• Bulgaria, 26 de noviembre de 2025: Se registran protestas masivas de jóvenes contra la corrupción y contra un proyecto de presupuesto que transfiere el financiamiento de las jubilaciones y de la seguridad social en las empresas al sistema fiscal. Las protestas cesan al cabo de un mes, después de la retirada del proyecto de reforma y la dimisión del gobierno Zheliazkov.

• Japón, 3 de mayo de 2025: Alrededor de 50 000 jóvenes inician protestas contra la remilitarización del país. Como en los conciertos de K-Pop y durante las protestas contra la proclamación de la ley marcial en Corea del Sur, los manifestantes esgrimen objetos lumínicos. Las protestas se extienden rápidamente por todo el país, pero el movimiento se disuelve por agotamiento.

• India, 15 de mayo: El presidente del Tribunal Supremo compara a los jóvenes desempleados con cucarachas. Un estudiante indio de comunicación de la universidad de Boston crea entonces, en la India, el “Partido de las Cucarachas” y organiza manifestaciones hasta forzar la renuncia del ministro de Educación. El Partido de las Cucarachas reaparece en octubre con un movimiento de protesta contra la revisión de las listas de electores, de las que se están viendo excluidas las personas más pobres. El movimiento se mantiene en este momento [1].

La manifestación del 17 de noviembre en Francia

En Francia, a partir del 18 de septiembre pasado comienzan a verse manifestaciones de los alumnos de la enseñanza media. Comienzan por Creteil, una comuna de los alrededores de París, rápidamente se extienden por la capital y después por todo el país. Pronto se unen a ellas los estudiantes universitarios. Los sindicatos del sector público no tardan en sumarse a las protestas.

Las primeras manifestaciones son pacíficas –los adolescentes denuncian inicialmente las malas condiciones de sus centros de estudio y la escasez de profesores– pero los desórdenes comienzan cuando algunos dirigentes de izquierda legitiman la violencia. Elementos violentos no vinculados a los manifestantes, pero bien organizados, se hacen presentes en las protestas causando daños materiales en los centros de estudios de los manifestantes. Mientras tanto, los policías en el terreno se interrogan sobre sus superiores al darse cuenta de que están recibiendo órdenes contradictorias que les impiden proteger a los verdaderos manifestantes y que los ponen a ellos en peligro ante los grupos violentos.

Las manifestaciones adquieren una envergadura nacional el 17 de octubre. Los “chalecos amarillos”, el movimiento informal surgido en 2018-2019 contra el alza de precios de los combustibles y en defensa de la Francia que vive en los barrios periféricos, en los suburbios de las grandes ciudades, se unen al movimiento, retomando su lucha contra el alza del costo de la vida.

La seguridad territorial de Francia, que habitualmente se caracteriza por la gran precisión de sus previsiones, esta vez subestima la cantidad de potenciales manifestantes situándola en unos 150 000 –en realidad, la cifra de personas que finalmente salió a las calles de Francia el 17 de octubre se sitúa entre 550 000 y 800 000. La dirección de los cuerpos policiales se asegura de que la cantidad de agentes en las calles corresponda al estimado extrañamente conservador de la inteligencia territorial.

Mientras tanto, los black blocs europeos envían a Francia miles de individuos, principalmente desde Italia, Suiza, Alemania y Bélgica.

El 17 de octubre las acciones violentas comienzan antes del mediodía, o sea antes de que se abra el cortejo de manifestantes aprobado por las autoridades, y se prolongan durante la madrugada del día 18. Se reportan más de 600 policías y gendarmes heridos –pero sólo 26 personas serán enviadas a los tribunales–, 1 500 establecimientos comerciales saqueados y destruidos y varios edificios históricos incendiados. Los daños estimados se elevant a cientos de millones de euros.

Análisis

En Francia, las protestas de los alumnos de la enseñanza media no fueron motivadas por un hecho en particular. Se trata de un malestar generalizado exacerbado por la sensación de abandono de toda una generación a la que se le explica que debe conformarse con estudiar en instalaciones mal preparadas, en las que se sufre por el calor o por el frio, según la época del año; que nadie enviará profesores sustitutos si sus profesores se enferman; que, a fin de cuentas nunca tendrá un empleo porque para los patrones la inteligencia artificial es más rentable… pero que, a pesar de todo, tendrá pagar la deuda que sus padres han acumulado y hasta los intereses de esa deuda.

Inicialmente, un partido político de izquierda trató de captar a los jóvenes manifestantes viniendo hasta las puertas de sus centros de enseñanza. Pero todo cambió el 17 de octubre.

Es evidente que ciertos responsables, en el seno de los mandos policiales, hicieron todo lo posible para que la gran movilización del 17 de octubre acabará cayendo en la violencia, a pesar de los manifestantes y de los policías. El 14 de octubre, un sindicato de los policías, Alliance, presentó una denuncia contra X por poner en peligro las vidas de otros. Ese sindicato está recogiendo testimonios por todo el país para identificar a los oficiales que propiciaron el caos.

Como lo hacen esos policías, tenemos que preguntarnos qué objetivo perseguían los instigadores ocultos de los actos de violencia. Es probable que se esté preparando una operación encubierta para perturbar la próxima elección presidencial, prevista para el 18 de abril y el 2 de mayo de 2027.

Es posible que esos instigadores ocultos estén en Francia, pero es igualmente posible que hayan actuado desde el extranjero, una hipótesis que se refuerza cuando se comprueba la participación de los black blocs europeos.

¿Es posible que hayamos olvidado que, en 2011, el candidato a la presidencia de Francia que aparecía a la cabeza en todos los sondeos, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, fue arrestado en Nueva York por la policía estadounidense, pero con ayuda del Pentágono, y acusado de “violación”, lo cual hizo posible la elección de Francois Hollande? [2]

¿Cómo es posible olvidar que, en 2017, otro candidato a la presidencia de Francia que también lidereaba los sondeos, Francois Fillon, fue objeto de un linchamiento mediático por haber contratado a su esposa como asistente parlamentaria? Lo cual abrió el camino a otro candidato salido prácticamente de la nada… el actual presidente Emmanuel Macron.

¿Cómo podemos entonces evitar pensar en la posibilidad de que, en 2027, el aspirante a la presidencia mejor posicionado en los sondeos, que no es otra que Marine Le Pen, pueda verse condenada por la justicia y despojada de sus derechos cívicos? ¿O que se cree una coyuntura bajo la cual se decida proclamar un “estado de emergencia” en el país? ¿O que, utilizando la nueva disposición incluida en la ley aprobada el 16 de agosto de 2026, se proclame un “estado de alerta de seguridad nacional”?

Al dirigirse a la Nación, menos de 24 horas después de las concentraciones del 17 de octubre, el presidente Emmanuel Macron hizo un rápido balance de las destrucciones registradas [3]. Y concluyó que los franceses son incapaces de enfrentar esos actos de violencia, antes de terminar diciendo que espera que se restablezca el orden… para poder realizar la elección presidencial.

Leaders criticised for spreading misleading information as France prepares for further protests this weekend

Emmanuel Macron has accused Donald Trump and other foreign leaders of making “stupid comments” about France’s street unrest for political gain, as the country prepared for more protests this weekend.

Speaking during a visit to Qatar, the French president did not name names but said “manipulation of information” after Saturday’s riots had led to “comments that are as unacceptable as they are stupid, from many people, including foreign leaders”.

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© Photograph: Tessier Benoit/ABACA/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Tessier Benoit/ABACA/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Tessier Benoit/ABACA/Shutterstock