Macron urges French protesters not to smash property before rallies

French President Emmanuel Macron has urged participants in Saturday’s protests not to trash cities or insult people. According to the authorities, almost 200,000 people, about 40,000 of them in Paris, may take to the streets of French cities.

“The constitutional right to demonstrate is fully respected, but it goes hand in hand with respect for people and property, which means no insults and no destruction,” Macron said, as reported by the website 20minutes. According to him, problems begin where marches are not organised and attract people who only want to smash things and provoke disorder. “That is unacceptable,” he said at the summit of EU leaders in Brussels.

The president also assured that he supports the police: in his words, the security forces have faced a rise in violence. “These are very difficult times for our security forces,” Macron noted, and condemned the attacks on police officers in recent days.

Who is behind the protests

The rallies were organised by student associations demanding more funding for education. Schools and universities are exactly where Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu plans to save money in the 2027 budget.

The Élysée Palace believes that the students’ legitimate demands are being used for political purposes by other organisations. AFP recalled that representatives of both the far right and the far left are using the protests in their rhetoric.

“We expect fairly high turnout,” Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said in an interview with the TV channel France 2.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz