Rioting is continuing in France, as more than 1,000 schools have now closed or gone to online instruction, with millions of euros in property damage and more than 3,000 people arrested.

The "students" have morphed into gimlet-eyed left-wing radicals who have hijacked the energy of the protests to turn it to their own agenda. The radical left party La France Insoumise (LFI), led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, has, according to police intelligence, been planning these actions since the beginning of September. Mélenchon denies it. But he may have unwittingly played into the hands of the conservative party, Rassemblement National (RN), or National Rally. Its leader, Marine Le Pen, is the daughter of the legendary French conservative politician, Jean-Marie Le Pen. She has been calling on the government to take sterner action against the rioters while promising some reforms. 

It makes sense to voters; a lot more sense than the brain-dead vocational training minister, Sabrina Roubache, who said that "we must listen to what young people are telling us," but added they should understand they are "lucky."

Hitting this woman upside the head with a two-by-four probably wouldn't do any good.

France is slowly coming to the realization that its vast, cradle-to-grave welfare state is unaffordable. Beyond the social and cultural crisis, France now faces a genuine fiscal crisis. This will prevent the government from promising to increase funding for schools, the proximate cause of the riots and protests. 

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As of now, "the country's public debt stands at roughly $4 trillion, which is 119 percent of its annual economic output," noted the New York Times. "With rates on French government bonds spiking, the cost of servicing that debt is projected to increase to roughly $100 billion in 2027."

"On top of that, France faces higher healthcare and pension costs because of its aging population, as well as increased military spending driven by the war in Ukraine and the disengagement of the United States," the Times continued.

Reason.com:

In order to stabilize France's finances, the prime minister wants to freeze spending on select social programs and raise some taxes; the budget deal might go through, but is reliant on Le Pen's party (which holds 118 of the 577 seats in the National Assembly) to not sink the legislation. 

All of this requires the formulation of a new consensus by a reluctant public: France cannot afford its welfare state, and no amount of violence in the streets will change that reality.

President Emmanuel Macron and his supposed "centrists" can scream "Nazi!" all they want about Le Pen and National Rally. That's been their electoral strategy since Le Pen's father was running for president in the 1970s. But the colossal failure of Macron's left-wing policies and those who preceded him, along with the rise of populists in France, has created a genuine opening for the right that Le Pen will almost certainly exploit.

The fact that Jean-Luc Mélenchon is trying to start a revolution will make Le Pen's job a lot easier.

UnHerd:

Mélenchon has been, as ever, mercurial, playing both sides at once. He has called for a “march of peace” today, with students, teachers and parents, united in wearing white hats or caps, coming together to show their disgust with the government. At the same time, LFI rhetoric argues that in all its forms, from bad schooling to police brutality, “state violence is not legitimate”. The students have a right, says Mélenchon, even a duty, “to take revenge”. He has publicly denounced both Lecornu and Valérie Pécresse, the centrist President of the Île-de-France region who wanted to charge Bagayoko’s administration €100,000 for the damage caused, as “racist”, levelling the same charge at the news channel BFMTV, which has shown some of the most graphic images. The present democratic structure of France, says Mélenchon, is loaded with “white privilege” and part of “an already obsolete present”. He calls for a “citizen’s revolution”, driven by “the force of numbers”, and led by the new postcolonial generations to come. (France already has 7.6 million second-generation immigrants aged 30 or less.)

"Unsurprisingly, the student protests are now conflated with Gaza, Palestinian flags are everywhere, and there are calls for a 'Sixth Republic' — effectively rewriting the present constitution — and 'a New France,'" writes UnHerd's Andrew Hussey. "Mélenchon’s overall aim is a revolutionary one: to create a France for the 21st century, one that is constructed out of its new second and third generation of immigrants."

This kind of overreach by Mélenchon is already leading to a significant backlash against the left.

"Mélenchon is smart, but he also underestimates the extent to which conservatism, in a political or simply a social sense, is still a force to be reckoned with in the 'Old France' — which still makes up the majority of French people," Hussey continues. "With his strategy of organized disruption, Mélenchon is clearly playing once again into the hands of Le Pen, whose agenda is the opposite of Mélenchon’s."

It's not hard for "Old France" to decide which side they should be supporting.

"This is no longer about high school student protests. It is about riots organized by professionals and overseen by deputies from La France Insoumise," said Le Pen.

The French people aren't stupid, although Mélenchon might not be the brightest bulb in the room.

(The signs on the characters are "Muslims," "Gays," and "Students.")

When the crackdown comes, and it's coming, it will be bloody and spell the end of Macron.