Macron vows action against protest violence after crisis meeting over France unrest

Yesterday, on October 17, several parties and groups from the left wing have caused a lot of violence in our cities. A lot of businesses have been looted, including stores, shops. Some town halls have been attacked, and some of them have been completely destroyed, and hundreds of policemen and gendarmes were injured. When we see those images, we all ask ourselves, what do they have in mind? How some French people can do this to France? Why do we set on fire the town hall of Limoges or Lyon or the prefecture of Lyon? How can we arrive to this stage? Nothing justify this violence, nothing excuse such violence. We all feel anger and shame tonight when we see the streets of our cities being looted in such manner. I am addressing you this evening and also talking to the internal forces. They have done their best. We are thinking of all those who have been injured, as well as their families. I also would like to express our support and solidarity to all our elected officials, and I would like to express our support to all the business owners, the craftsmen, those who were subjected to and are bearing the consequences of those acts of violence. Some are desperate. Some had to defend their own shops in the face of those rioters. They will not be left alone in the face of such riots. And as of tomorrow, the prime minister will convene a crisis unit in order to provide urgent aid and to be able to accompany those who are going through difficult moments. We need to be clear. Yesterday, our law enforcement officers and officials, despite their professionalism, they were subjected to an unprecedented violence in several cities and at many times. I have asked the government to provide all the lessons learned and to be able to anticipate and to make sure that this does not happen again. I'm still waiting for clear answers with all the needed transparency. This is what I asked from the Minister of Interior. The investigations will be conducted with the most firm way, and also we have asked the prosecutor and the Minister of Justice to be firm. It has to be an example. Our judges have also to provide justice, and they know what they are expecting from them. Every time there are acts of violence, there must be justice. And those who destroyed or created acts of violence have to answer before the courts. We need also to see clearly what is being expressed in the country. Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens demonstrated as they had legitimate concerns and grievances. Never, we should never confuse those who demonstrated peacefully with those who acted in violence. The rising cost of living and the high prices of oil and petrol are the consequences of a war that is in a different region, but I understand their concerns. It has been the same demonstrations are taking place in other capitals in Europe. I have talked about this in international scenes in order to be able to reduce the prices, and I will continue to do so as I'm going to the Gulf countries to be able to secure our oil resources. We have also got in touch with the oil distributors so that we can have a positive impact on the prices. The government is doing its utmost in order to address this question of prices. And I know that the French citizens are expecting concrete results, and we will continue to work. Since a few days, our youth is expressing also a lot of concerns in high schools, but also in universities. They are concerned about the life in the education establishments and their place in the society, the fact that they might not have a desirable future. I understand our students, and they are in the heart of our political agenda. Their word and their opinions should be heard without any compromise and without minimizing or underestimating their concerns. The Minister of Education is working and has established a platform that received more than 100,000 contributions in addition to the meetings with the academia and with the administrations of the high schools in order to find the appropriate responses. We have a dual responsibility to understand, to hear the anger, and to act accordingly, and to respect the republic. We should not confuse the legitimate grievances, but at the same time, we need to act firmly when it comes to acts of violence. I would like to give a clear approach. In the current context, the mayors will work with the law enforcement officials in order to protect our cities and our businesses to such an extent where they will ban some demonstrations as needed. Second, I call on the political parties and the professional associations and trade unions to firmly condemn all the violence and to call for calm, everyone should take their responsibility. The country needs order and peace and not escalation. The prime minister will convene in the coming days of the different stakeholders to have clear stances that will be made public. Third, we cannot ask from our youth to believe in the future without giving them the possibility to construct and to build the answers and to be part of the table. Yes, we need to sit around the same table and shape together answers, including students, teachers and representatives from professional associations, business associations, local elected officials will work with the government as of tonight to shape concrete answers, and the prime minister will convene them in the coming days for this specific goal. I would like to be firm. Those who vandalized, the rioters, we will be uncompromising in the face of violence. Listening to the anger does not mean that they will not be punished. Dear fellow citizens, we are at six months before the presidential elections, only six months. And all those who are explaining to you that you need to take to the streets to demonstrate, to create disorder, have one goal, which is to destroy the republic and to steal the debate. The future choices that we will make in six months are essential and important, and France is a great democratic force and has the right to have those debates. It should be conducted with the parties and not in the street and with the means of violence. It should be done with journalists and platforms, in TVs, in a pacific way where we can talk exchange within the respect, not in disorder, and by vandalizing public places. Our country deserves to have a beautiful elections in six months, and it is at play now, and we need to act responsibly, yes, for dialogue, yes, for concrete answers for the long and short term, and to prepare for the future, but no, and always no, for any shape or form of violence. We need unity, we need calm and respect. Long live the Republic, long live France.