France’s Prime Minister plans to meet unions on Wednesday (October 21, 2026) to discuss security and has vowed a “massive” police deployment at protests, following riots in the past week that led to curfews and arrests.

The Eurozone’s second-largest economy was rocked on the weekend by some of its worst rioting in recent years, just six months before voters head to the polls to elect a successor to President Emmanuel Macron.

Sebastien Lecornu will meet with representatives from five unions on Wednesday (October 21, 2026) morning to discuss “ways and means to guarantee the essential freedom to demonstrate” according to a letter sent to the organisations, which noted some were attempting to subvert the protests with “unacceptable acts”.

More protests centred over rising living costs are planned on Saturday (October 24, 2026), organised by the “Yellow Vest” movement and high school students, with another called for November 5 by labour unions.

School students have not been invited to the Wednesday (October 21, 2026) meeting.

Images of clashes, mobs looting stores and public buildings set ablaze last weekend prompted several countries, including the United States, China and Germany, to issue travel advisories for their citizens in France.

Facing angry lawmakers in parliament, Mr. Lecornu acknowledged that the security response had fallen short and promised a stronger approach ahead of the new wave of protests.

“The deployment for next Saturday (October 24, 2026) will be massive,” Mr. Lecornu said.

Arrests and investigations

French authorities announced on Monday (October 19, 2026) partial curfews in Paris and other cities, and Mr. Lecornu said fresh ones would be imposed on Tuesday (October 20, 2026) where needed.

The nighttime curfew in the capital, from 2100 GMT Tuesday (October 20, 2026), applied to Republique square in the centre-east and Les Halles shopping district in the centre.

A ban on public gatherings was also ordered for the Champs-Elysees, near several public buildings, and at train stations.

Paris police ordered a temporary ban on people carrying cans or bottles of petrol or gas, after mobs set fire to government buildings and shops last weekend.

Security forces arrested a man believed to be connected to the ultra-left over the burning down of a historic town hall in Limoges, whose destruction has become a symbol of the violence.

Authorities have faced criticism from parties across the political spectrum, with far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen describing the unrest as a “wake-up call” that exposed a “profound crisis” of authority.

Recent polling suggests Ms. Le Pen leading first-round presidential voting intentions by a wide margin and far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon emerging as the strongest contender for the runoff.

Mr. Lecornu has accused ultra-left radical groups of forging an “insurrectionary plan” that led to the riots.

In a sign of growing political scrutiny over the street violence, lawmakers from across France’s fractured parliament agreed on Tuesday (October 20, 2026) to launch a parliamentary inquiry into the unrest, including possible intelligence failures, policing tactics and the government’s preparedness.

Investors have sold off French debt in recent weeks amid rising doubts about the government’s ability to rein in spending.

Nearly 150 people had been jailed and more than 800 brought before the courts, according to the Justice Minister.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez offered to resign on Sunday (October 18, 2026), saying police “had lost control” during the unrest. Mr. Macron rejected his resignation and Mr. Nunez was also set to attend Wednesday’s (October 21, 2026) meeting with union representatives.

Other European countries have seen demonstrations over rising prices, with smaller clashes breaking out in Italy’s financial centre of Milan as well as in Belgium over the weekend.

U.S. President Donald Trump has seized on the unrest in France to amplify his anti-immigration and anti-Islam rhetoric, at a time when his Republican party is facing headwinds in upcoming midterm elections.

Mr. Trump launched into a lengthy tirade at a midterms rally on Monday (October 19, 2026) in Kansas, saying France was being “conquered, looted, and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists, and communists”.

Several analysts have countered Mr. Trump’s rhetoric, saying immigration was not a driving force in France’s unrest.

Published – October 21, 2026 10:04 am IST

U.S. President Donald Trump used the protests roiling France to score some quick political points on Monday (October 19, 2026), as the upcoming midterm elections force his Republican party to face strong headwinds.

At a rally in Kansas, the U.S. President launched into a lengthy tirade about France, which he said was being “conquered, looted, and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists, and communists.”

“And we’re not going to let that happen to this country,” he added.

While speaking with reporters previously in the day, Mr. Trump recalled an exchange with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron: “I told him a long time ago, you’re making a big mistake in France. You’re letting everybody from the world come in…Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon.”

Earlier on Monday (October 19, 2026), the 80-year-old President wrote on his Truth Social platform: “The migrants have taken over France. They must CLOSE THE BORDERS, FAST!”

Cost-of-living demonstrations broke out across France over the weekend, with many devolving into looting and violent conflict, prompting officials to institute partial curfews on Monday (October 19, 2026).

While the French protests were inspired by soaring inflation, Trump has molded the violent clashes with police into evidence in favor of the anti-immigration policies he used to successfully campaign for reelection in 2024.

“They’re taking this French crisis and turning it into a campaign argument,” J.C. Lintzenich, a senior fellow with the German Marshall Fund think tank, told AFP.

Conservative talking points

Opinion polls heavily favour Mr. Trump’s rival Democratic Party in the November 3 midterm elections, which will determine who will take control of Congress.

With just two weeks to go before Americans go to the polls, Mr. Trump has grasped any strategy he can to compel voters to support the Republican party and his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.

“Since the beginning of the MAGA movement, Europe has been an extension of the US political battlefield, so it’s not surprising that when there are events like the unrest from October 17, the political machine gets moving,” Justin Vaisse, a professor of U.S. foreign policy at Johns Hopkins University, told AFP.

As videos of France’s unrest began surfacing on social media, Vice President J.D. Vance wrote Saturday (October 17, 2026) on X: “Western liberals imported the third world into France…they ignored fundamental questions of assimilation and compatibility.”

Right-wing U.S. media personalities, including Glenn Beck, Benny Johnson, Nick Sortor and Jack Posobiec made similar points, blaming immigrants from Muslim-majority countries for causing a crisis in Western identity.

“The riots are viewed as validation of the warnings against immigration in general and Muslim immigration, if such a thing exists,” Vaisse said.

Celia Belin, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and head of its Paris office, views the commentary as an “export of domestic policies” from a US administration that openly supports nationalist parties in Europe.

She told AFP that Mr. Trump and his allies “rushed into this argument, the same one that Vance had presented in Munich” in 2025, in a controversial speech described as a US culture war against Europe, with the goal of “fanning the flames.”

Polling priorities

Experts note that this rhetorical strategy, while it may have succeeded in 2024, is not necessarily what US voters want to hear these days.

“When you look at the campaign ads here — I’m in South Carolina right now — it’s about healthcare, domestic issues,” Lintzenich said.

“The international element is a blip on the radar, and Ukraine, and Iran, and other ongoing national security issues rate higher than the current French instability,” he continued.

A Pew Research poll this month found the economy plays an important role in the choice of 82% of U.S. voters, a far higher number than immigration (59%) or race-related issues (36%).

Though Mr. Trump has followed through on his 2024 campaign promise to crack down on immigration, he has fared less successfully on his other promise to tamp down on inflation, with his tariff policies and war with Iran spiking prices across the economy, plunging his approval rating to record lows.

Vaisse said using linking U.S. identitarian rhetoric with the events in France “is not going to win a single vote” for Republicans, though it could “mobilize the base” to vote.

Published – October 20, 2026 07:35 am IST