French parliamentary inquiry proposed as blame for riots remains disputed

In France, National Assembly president Yaël Braun-Pivet has proposed a parliamentary inquiry into how riots on 17 October were organised, the BBC reported. The proposal comes amid disagreement over who drove the violence, as the government prepares a major security operation for protests planned for Saturday, 24 October.

Competing accounts of the 17 October riots

BBC Europe editor Katya Adler reported from Paris that much of the looting seemed opportunistic while the violence appeared planned. Those observations do not identify who organised attacks or establish a single cause of the unrest. A resident Adler interviewed rejected a friend’s description of the events as civil war, saying Saturday’s violence was something else entirely.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu blamed far-left groups for the unrest, according to Reuters reporting carried by the South China Morning Post. The groups, in turn, accused the government of underestimating anger over living costs and declining public services. The BBC described wider frustration and demands for authorities to listen as possible factors in the protest wave, without presenting them as a settled explanation for the violence.

Security plans for 24 October protests

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told the National Assembly that Sentinelle military forces would be deployed for Saturday’s planned protests, mainly to free police and gendarmes for public-order duties, RTÉ reported. Lecornu said the security deployment would be ‘massive’ and that his immediate aim was a return to order.

Reuters reported that Lecornu acknowledged failures in the response to the previous weekend’s violence and promised to overhaul tactics. Paris police also ordered a 9pm-to-4am curfew for the République square and Les Halles areas, RTÉ reported. The inquiry proposed by Braun-Pivet would address how the earlier riots were organised; the BBC report did not establish whether parliament had adopted the proposal.