Macron Admits Police Shortfall, Warns Saturday Is High-Risk
Speaking to reporters during a visit to Marseille, Macron laid out the threat in stark terms. “We know that next Saturday is still a high-risk day. We know that Nov. 5 will see a day of national mobilization involving all the trade unions, and there are also the other Saturdays ahead,” he said.
He insisted it was “not inevitable” that the unrest would repeat every Saturday, and vowed that authorities would keep working to protect property, people and city centers.
Macron said he had directed the government to address the “legitimate demands at the root of this social movement,” noting that Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu was due to meet representatives of the high school community later in the day. Once that meeting is over, he signaled “significant announcements and progress aimed at bringing about changes now and launching initiatives in the very short term”
Similar outreach will follow with unions and employers’ groups. “We will do the same with trade unions and employers’ organizations, and so all of this must gradually return to normal, with respect,” he added.
Macron also conceded that security forces were stretched too thin during the Oct. 17 protests, saying the events “had not been anticipated.” “We had not anticipated that so many far-left groups would mobilize very early in the morning, in a highly unusual manner. (...) We had also not anticipated that, beyond the mobilization of the far left, criminal elements would join in. As a result, police forces were not deployed in sufficient numbers,” he said.
Rejecting criticism that he has not imposed a state of emergency, he said authorities were “currently maintaining the Republic and public order without a state of emergency,” and described their response as “rigorous and firm.”
The president also pointed to social media as an accelerant. He said that “social media are damaging our democracies because they fuel polarization, create a kind of shock and paralysis in the face of scenes of violence.” “They were used, particularly on Oct. 17, to bring young people and older people to places where criminal acts, attacks and looting were taking place, because violence on social media is being presented in a way that makes it seem unreal,” he further said.
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