France riots: schools attacked and shops looted

France riots: schools attacked and shops looted

What is happening in France? Since late October, a wave of riots has swept the country: groups of young people have attacked high schools, burned vehicles and looted shops in cities such as Saint-Étienne, Lyon, Toulouse, Nantes, Marseille and Limoges. According to the accounts circulating, the trigger was the violent reaction of a group of teenagers of immigrant background against a student who asked them to stop vandalising his school. From there, the fire spread.

The image of a left-wing mayor, the mayor of Saint-Denis, jumping and high-fiving the rioters has become the symbol of institutional helplessness. Meanwhile, the international press speaks of "student protests" and the Élysée remains silent. In Spain, the question is unavoidable: could it happen here?

Timeline of a spark that set the country alight

The starting point was a school. A student asked a group of teenagers to stop wrecking the building. The answer was a beating. The video spread across social media and, within hours, the riots multiplied. According to witnesses, the attackers waved flags of their countries of origin while destroying furniture and firing fireworks at the police.

The fuse was lit in Saint-Étienne, where groups of high school students set vehicles on fire and attacked a Catholic school. From there it spread to Lyon, Lille, Toulouse and Nantes, with tear gas and police charges. In Marseille, rioters fired fireworks at officers. In Limoges, the town hall ended up burning. In Corsica, a statue of the Virgin Mary was destroyed.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez warned: "We will not tolerate any form of violence or breach of public order." Hours later, images of a police officer assaulted and a piano kicked to pieces were circulating everywhere. The warning sounded like a joke.

The mayor who joined the party

One of the most talked-about moments was the behaviour of the mayor of Saint-Denis, Bally Bagayoko, of the radical left. According to the videos released, he was seen laughing, high-fiving and jumping with the students attacking a high school in his own town. The scene sums up the degree of institutional decay: a public official taking part in the chaos he is supposed to quell.

It is not an isolated case. According to French analysts, the strategy of La France Insoumise would be to "sponsor the chaos" to fish for votes amid the discontent. Some tweets cited in the conversation claim they are looking for "their new Nahel", referring to the young man whose death triggered the 2023 riots. The difference is that this time there is no dead body, but an enraged mass with no leader and no concrete demand.

The economics of squatting and looting

Beyond the noise, there is an economic backdrop. The riots prey on shops, street furniture and public transport. Every night of violence destroys jobs and drives away investment. And the cost is not paid by the rioters, but by the taxpayers who watch their taxes go towards rebuilding what was burned.

Lurking in the background is the French social model: a state that spends more than it takes in and funds a network of subsidies that, according to some analyses, discourages labour market integration. When the tap is turned off, the tension will be greater. French public debt exceeds 110% of GDP and the deficit has been above 3% for years. It is not today's problem, but the riots are a symptom.

Could it happen in Spain?

The comparison with Spain is inevitable. There are also neighbourhoods with integration problems, high schools turned into powder kegs and politicians who look the other way. The difference is that in France the conflict has erupted first. Some messages warn that in 2027, if the radical left loses the elections, it could use illegal immigrants to sow chaos. It is a hypothesis, not a fact, but the French precedent is unsettling.

The question hanging in the air is whether Europe has an integration problem or whether it has simply imported a conflict it does not know how to manage. Meanwhile, Paris keeps burning and tourists keep shopping during fashion week. The disconnect between reality and the shop window is total.

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In the end, civilisation does not fall to a foreign army, but to a group of teenagers with a lighter and the certainty that no one will punish them. Ironies of history.