Riots in France – is this the future of Europe?

Within the space of a few weeks, France presented two radically different faces to the world. Whilst one crowd gathered peacefully in prayer and fellowship, the other turned violently against the symbols of order and cultural heritage.

Protests in France over purchasing power, education and public services

On 17 October 2026, hundreds of thousands of French people took to the streets. Officially, the protests centred on concerns about purchasing power, the state of education and public services. Trade unions, student organisations and sections of the population voiced their dissatisfaction with rising prices and what they saw as the erosion of the welfare state. The mainstream media primarily highlighted the legitimate grievances of hard-working citizens and young people who felt their future was under threat. However, anyone following the footage on social media and in local reports saw something that bore a closer resemblance to a civil war.
Fire at Limoges’ historic town hall: a symbol of the chaos

In numerous cities, the protests resulted in a full-blown outbreak of chaos and violence. In Paris, cars were set alight, barricades were erected and shops were looted. Police officers were pelted with projectiles. In Lyon, a tourist information centre went up in flames. In Marseille, the town hall was stormed. The most striking symbol of the unrest, however, was Limoges. There, masked protesters set fire to the historic town hall, a Neo-Renaissance building dating from 1883. The roof and the clock tower collapsed. The prefect described it as a “catastrophe for our heritage”.

France falls prey to far-left terrorism and gangster Islam

On social media, many people pointed out that this remarkable historic building had survived two world wars, but not mass migration. Graffiti bearing slogans such as “Vive la Commune” appeared on the fountain in front of it. The main suspect, who was arrested on 20 October 2026 in connection with the fire, is a 34-year-old man who is consistently linked by the French authorities and media to the ultragauche (the extreme left-wing movement). In other major cities, black blocs and opportunistic looters (read: gangster Islam) are the driving forces behind the violence and destruction. Thousands of people were arrested; nearly a thousand police officers were injured. This has long since ceased to be a demonstration that got out of hand, but is instead a deliberate attack on public order and public authority.

Pope Leo XIV’s visit to France in September 2026

Exactly three weeks earlier, from 25 to 28 September, France had presented a very different face. Pope Leo XIV undertook his first official apostolic journey to “the eldest daughter of the Church” in eighteen years. An estimated seven to eight hundred thousand people gathered at the Place de la Concorde and along the Champs-Élysées for an open-air Mass. At the Stade de France, some eighty thousand young people prayed with the Pope. Further large, orderly gatherings took place in Lourdes and Metz. Despite these staggering numbers, all the events took place in an atmosphere of prayer, tranquillity and fellowship. The contrast with October could scarcely have been greater.

Two faces of France, according to the analysis of Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

These two moments are not isolated events. They reveal two faces of the same France – and of the Western culture war in which France plays a key role (precisely because of its centuries-old Christian history). In his masterpiece Revolution and Counter-Revolution (1959), Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira accurately described and elaborated on this dynamic. He viewed the history of the West as a centuries-long revolutionary process aimed at undermining the Christian order. That process, driven by pride or hubris (egalitarianism and the rejection of all hierarchy) and sensuality (the rejection of moral and legal restraints), comprises three major phases: the Protestant pseudo-Reformation, the French Revolution and communism. For Oliveira, the French Revolution of 1789 marked the moment when that spirit asserted itself politically and violently: the dismantling of the monarchy, the nobility and the Church in favour of an egalitarian and secular utopianism.

Christian France versus Revolutionary France

In Professor Oliveira’s analysis, there is not just one France, but two. On the one hand, the France of Christian civilisation: hierarchical, sacred, orderly, patriotic in the original sense of the word – rooted in faith, family and tradition. On the other hand, there is the France of the Revolution: the spirit of chaos, the rejection of authority, the egalitarian violence that attacks the buildings, institutions and symbols of the past. The massive, peaceful gatherings around the Pope represent the first France: a people who, despite secularisation and left-wing indoctrination, are still capable of organising themselves. The arson attacks, looting and assaults on public buildings represent the second: the revolutionary impulse that has never been extinguished and which, at every opportunity, seeks to destroy the remnants of order.

The Continuation of the Revolution in the 21st Century

Oliveira emphasised that the Revolution did not end in 1789. It transforms and returns in new guises. The far-left groups setting fire to historic buildings today are acting in the same spirit as the Jacobins who desecrated churches and destroyed the Ancien Régime. The fact that they often find support or tacit approval from sections of the media and the political establishment fits the pattern described by Oliveira: the ‘moderate’ phases of the Revolution pave the way for the more radical phases. When the centre fails to address the causes of the breakdown of public order – or even encourages it through policies that relativise hierarchy, boundaries and moral order – it creates the space in which the extreme wing can strike.

Mélenchon’s creolisation as the ideology of revolutionary France

This revolutionary vision also takes on an explicit ideological form in the creolisation advocated by Jean-Luc Mélenchon. According to him, creolisation is not a project, but an inescapable fact: the constant invention of new cultural practices arising from the blending of different cultural elements. According to Mélenchon, France is already creolised and has no reason to be ashamed of this; indeed, the universalism of the Revolution is precisely what makes this blending possible. In this view, French identity is no longer tied to a specific heritage of faith, language and historical continuity, but to the constant reinvention of an egalitarian society. It is precisely this denial of a given, hierarchically ordered civilisation that forms the intellectual precondition for the chaos that manifested itself on the streets in October.

Two visions of the future for Europe: restoration or collapse

These two faces of France are, at the same time, two visions of the future for Europe. One is that of restoration: the defence and reconstruction of Christian civilisation, with its emphasis on order, faith, family, tradition and the recognition of natural hierarchies. The other is that of continued Revolution: further disintegration into chaos, violence and anarchy, in which symbols of the past are destroyed and the state loses its authority. The events of September and October make it clear that both forces are at work. The question is which will gain the upper hand. Europe stands at a crossroads. Whether it succeeds in defending and restoring the Christian order, or perishes in the fire and violence of the Revolution, depends on the choices made in the coming years – and on the willingness of its peoples to learn the lessons of history.

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This article was first published on Cultuur Onder Vuur.