Far-right National Rally President Jordan Bardella slammed “scenes reminiscent of civil war,” caused by “predators” who smashed up shops and clashed with the police at the weekend. “I tell the French: Wake up because soon they will [be] breaking into your apartments,” Bardella added, as he attacked perpetrators of the disorder.
The National Rally leader, who is currently leading in opinion polls ahead of next year’s presidential election, laid the blame on France’s population of immigrant descent, which includes people who “are physically in France, but whose spirit and heart is elsewhere,” he said.
For the French far right, the violence is a golden opportunity to return to its strongest themes of security and immigration after floundering in recent weeks over economic policy. Bardella and party stalwart Marine Le Pen have appeared to clash over how best to reform France’s state pensions and how the government should respond to the energy crisis.
The outbreak of violence was also an opportunity for the far right to play up its differences and go to ideological battle with the far left, which called on the police to show restraint. Several recent polls show that far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon could qualify for the election’s second round against Bardella or Le Pen next year.
“If tomorrow we are at the head of the country, we will implement penal and security policies that will put predators out of action,” Bardella said after the violence, adding that his party would remove benefits from parents of young criminals and toughen up sentences for minors.
Nearly 900 people were arrested in the riots, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez on Monday, an increase of 45 percent compared with last year when PSG also won the Champions League.