The former French Prime Minister and presidential candidate, Édouard Philippe, has lashed out at Emmanuel Macron's recent message to the nation, reproaching him for the lack of clear measures following a weekend marked by serious disturbances across the country. Through a statement on social media, Philippe has demanded "decisions and initiatives that allow for a return to order and the restoration of the authority of the State."
After watching the televised intervention of the head of State, the leader expressed his concern and discomfort in his dual capacity as "mayor (of the town of Le Havre) and citizen." While he acknowledged in Macron a "laudable willingness to restore dialogue," he emphasized that he would have liked to hear firm announcements of punishment against "the looters and the vandals," as well as a precise plan to resume negotiations with students and trade unions. "Our country needs to be governed," he reiterated.
Philippe's words come after a day of massive protests against the state of public education, the rising cost of living, and the actions of security forces, which resulted in violent clashes. According to the report released by the French government, the protests on Saturday, which gathered about 550,000 people, resulted in 2,397 arrests and more than 500 agents injured. In the capital alone, of the 720 arrests made, 517 turned into formal detentions, including those of 171 minors.
Tension continued on Sunday with a new unauthorized gathering of around a thousand protesters in the Place de la République in Paris, where the police resorted to the use of tear gas and water cannons. Given the extent of the material damage — with fires in town halls such as that of Limoges and attacks on more than 600 businesses — the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, has urged prosecutors to seek the provisional imprisonment of those allegedly responsible for the assaults. At the same time, the Association of Mayors of France (AAF) has called for organizing gatherings in front of all the town halls in the country this Monday at noon to condemn the violence and support the institutions.
This climate of crisis occurs after the French president appeared on Sunday afternoon with a message directed at the citizens in which he asked the regional prefects, equivalent to the Government delegates in Spain, to prohibit "certain gatherings" when they deem it necessary, in response to the outbreak of riots. Macron urged these representatives of the State to act "by all means," "including prohibiting certain gatherings when necessary, taking all necessary measures and by all means."