Clean-up sweeps France after protest violence, Attal pitches social media blackout, police 'lost control'

A massive clean-up operation was under way across France on Monday after a weekend of widespread protests and violence, from Lille in the north to Marseille in the south and from Strasbourg in the east to Bordeaux in the southwest, as cities worked to clear the scars of the unrest from their streets.

On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets nationwide. Students — who have been blockading schools in recent weeks to call for better study conditions, more teachers and more funding — joined trade unions and members of the public to protest the cost of living. While many protested peacefully, scenes of extreme violence also played out across the country.

According to the latest figures from the interior ministry, some 2,000 people were arrested during the turmoil. On Monday, French and international papers reacted to the polarising riots and their aftermath with words like 'shame', 'anger' and 'chaos'.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez admitted on Monday that the police "lost control" in some cities during the violent protests that erupted across the country at the weekend — an admission from the government that has further fuelled the debate over how the situation was handled.

Against this backdrop, presidential candidate Gabriel Attal has renewed his call to grant the government power to selectively block access to social media platforms to quell riots.

"You have young people at home who see their friends going out to loot, which gives the impression that they're getting away with it; they see them on social media, and then they go out too," Attal said in an interview with French radio station RTL. The former prime minister now leads President Emmanuel Macron's political party.

He stressed, however, that the measures must be "temporary" and "limited to the area where the riots are taking place." Whether the proposal would survive judicial review remains an open question.

The precedent is controversial. During Attal's tenure as prime minister in 2024, France blocked TikTok access to one of its overseas territories, New Caledonia, amid widespread protests there. But France's highest administrative court ruled that the suspension constituted "a disproportionate infringement of rights and freedoms."

Moreover, over the summer, France's Constitutional Council blocked a bill seeking to ban access to social media for under-15s after finding the legislation disproportionately infringed on minors' right to freedom of expression and communication.

Such internet restrictions are more commonly associated with countries like China, Iran, Russia and, more recently, India. These countries either have permanent blocks on certain social media platforms or have restricted them during protest movements, with India and Iran going so far as to block internet access completely.

All told, the weekend's unrest has posed two questions for France — the anger of people on the streets over the cost of living and education demands, and the limits of state power in controlling violence. The clean-up may clear the streets, but the argument over Attal's proposal makes clear the debate will not end soon.