Why Is France Perpetually Rioting?

Foreign Policy · Emile Chabal · 2026-10-19 19:03 UTC

Protest and radicalization are the answer to an authoritarian, centralized state.

Protest and radicalization are the answer to an authoritarian, centralized state.

When I first started studying contemporary France as a graduate student in 2006, the country was still reeling from a convulsion of urban violence triggered by the deaths of two teenagers in an electrical substation as they were hiding from police. For several weeks in late 2005, the country had gone up in flames as angry young people protested against police violence, racism, social inequality, and the broken promises of France’s social contract.

Fast forward 20 years, and the images of France being broadcast to the world are the same. What began as a protest by high school students has escalated into a nationwide cry of exasperation, punctuated by looting, the ritual burning of public buildings, and a cascade of violence meted out by riot police armed with smoke grenades and tear gas.

Read the full story at Foreign Policy · All coverage of this story