John Ivison: France is in flames and it’s a gift to the far right

Anti-riot police officers face protesting students carrying out blockading action in northern Paris on October 1, 2026. Since late September, students have staged protests outside schools over grievances ranging from timetables, class sizes and a shortage of teachers to overheated classrooms during this year's heatwaves. The protests have spread to other cities nationwide. Photo by LOU BENOIST /AFP via Getty Images

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My eldest son landed in Paris on Thursday to begin a year teaching English there, just as the capital was gripped by student riots.

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“The first thing I saw was a massive fire in the middle of the street,” James said, adding that rioters were shooting fireworks at police.

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France is burning. The spark was the student protest over high school conditions but the tinder is broad dissatisfaction on the left with the political status quo, not to mention fears over the prospect of a far right government next year.

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Their actions have made Marine Le Pen’s election all but inevitable.

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More than 500 schools have been disrupted; 65 staff members and 300 police officers have been injured and 2,000 people have been arrested.

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Videos of horrific violence are being viewed by millions, not least the incident where a woman telling rioters not to vandalize her city is attacked by a masked man with a makeshift flame-thrower. Her skin and clothing are still smouldering as the camera pans away.

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In another video, masked rioters attacked firefighters in Marseille and burnt their truck. In a third, a hysterical mob urges a young man in a black suit to attack a blond-haired woman the caption claims is a teacher.

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The bookies should probably stop taking bets on Le Pen winning next April’s presidential election, such is the likely reaction to such sights.

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“Islamic invaders attack the fire department” ran one comment online. France is engaging in “national suicide” ran another.

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Muslim migrants are participating in some of the rioting but it is far from clear they are the protagonists.

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One French minister blamed the far left and Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) party for granting licence to the rioting teens.

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LFI politicians turned up to support some protests, including the left-wing mayor of Saint Denis in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, Bally Bagayoko, who was filmed dancing with students, while garbage cans burned in the background.

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Le Pen said it is clear the riots are professionally organized and she is probably right.

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But whoever is behind the chaos, it has likely hammered another nail in the coffin of the political status quo.

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The first round of voting next year eliminates all but two candidates. Current polling has Le Pen with a double digit lead over Mélenchon and the most popular of the 15 or so centrist candidates, Edouard Philippe, a former prime minister under president Emmanuel Macron.

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Philippe’s message is that France needs to get a grip of its finances, as public debt rises to 119 percent of GDP and the deficit is forecast at 5 percent of the economy. France is now paying more to borrow than Greece or Italy.

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Philippe’s proposal to raise the minimum retirement age from 63 to 65 is sensible but probably unpopular.

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That suggests a run-off between the two extremes — Mélenchon and Le Pen, neither of whom have credible plans to wrestle the public finances under control.