France's Parliament Chief Proposes Inquiry Into Weekend Riots
National Assembly president Yaël Braun-Pivet has proposed a parliamentary inquiry, an investigation led by lawmakers, into the riots that broke out in France on Saturday 17 October and into how they were organised, according to the BBC. The National Assembly is the lower house of France's parliament.
Protests that day drew around 550,000 people across France. They turned into riots marked by clashes, fires and wide-scale looting, which were described as the worst unrest in years, according to AFP. French reports cited by the BBC say more than 3,000 shops and businesses were looted. The BBC's own analysis found the looting appeared largely opportunistic, while the violence appeared to have been pre-planned. In Marseille, police clashed with protesters before a demonstration there had begun.
AFP reported that violence around the Saturday demonstrations led to 2,397 arrests, and that 997 police and gendarmes, members of France's national military police, were injured, seven of them seriously. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez have blamed the hard left for the violence. Lecornu referred to insurrections planned by small far-left and ultra-left groups, meaning movements further to the left than the mainstream left. The government has also blamed criminals it says instigated the looting.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the left-wing party La France Insoumise, has denied accusations that his movement was linked to the violence. A French intelligence report dated 29 September 2026, published by Le Figaro, described the manipulation of student demonstrations by student unions and radical-left movements. It suggested La France Insoumise relied on violence as an electoral strategy ahead of the 2027 presidential election. French intelligence has also briefed government circles that left-wing anarchist groups took part in the student protests that preceded the riots, according to the BBC.
Former prime minister Gabriel Attal called for selected social media blackouts to halt the violence, arguing that posts online had encouraged some people to join in. Online sales platforms said they would work with French authorities to track down looters, and police are examining CCTV and social media footage. President Emmanuel Macron said everyone responsible for violence or theft would be brought to justice.
Authorities imposed partial curfews during the unrest. Prime Minister Lecornu said the targeted curfews had helped keep the peace overnight, according to Reuters. The same report says France plans to deploy troops and boost police before the next protests, and that the government has admitted security failures over the weekend. Macron urged calm and promised firmness and transparency.
Reuters has reported that the unrest came amid public anger over the cost of living and under-funded public services. Belgium's Interior Minister, Bernard Quintin, warned of the "TikTokisation" of violence, meaning the spread of unrest through short-video apps, and blamed violence in Brussels and Liège on known far-left groups. The BBC reports wide disagreement, in France and beyond, over what led to some of the worst unrest seen in French cities in modern history.
