ExclusiveThe France Riots Have Spread

First came the school blockades in France, then the wider marches, burning barricades, smashed shops, and confrontations with police. On Saturday, another city saw a disturbingly familiar sequence. In Barcelona, shoppers were trapped behind department store shutters as groups outside looted businesses and set fires. Even the slogan had traveled. The Barcelona mobilization borrowed its name from France's student movement, a border separated the cities it did not stop the message from spreading. Welcome to News Planet, I'm your host Kathleen Lee. France's movement began in September with students demanding better school conditions their complaints included teacher shortages, deteriorating facilities and unequal educational opportunities. Then the movement widened. Unions and Yellow Vest supporters joined demonstrations over living costs and declining public services. Those grievances brought large numbers of people into the streets. But alongside peaceful demonstrators came groups prepared to attack police, damage public buildings, and loot shops. The cause and the conduct were no longer the same thing. After the October 17 violence, President Emmanuel Macron blamed agitators from ultra-left fringe groups, joined by criminals. One week later, social media posts called people to central Barcelona for a movement against the system. They used Institute Indignats, echoing France's Lycée Indigné's student slogan Around Plaza de Catalunya, groups erected barricades, attacked police, and damaged businesses. Catalonia's interior minister reported more than 30 fires and 14 stores vandalized or looted The resemblance is not imaginary. The borrowed language is documented. What has not been established is a single organization directing both countries' violence. So, who is responsible for the anti-system riots? France's government has accused political opponents of exploiting student frustration. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu singled out allies of France Unbowed whose leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has supported and joined the student protests. However, another party that has been overlooked is illegal immigrants. The majority of the protesters that were caught on footage and documented appear to be non-natives, burning down native French citizens' property and France's historical landmarks. Thus, it wasn't initially the citizens that wanted change, it was indoctrination from outsiders that started the revolution tearing down the country. Unfortunately, it's now spreading across Europe, as demonstrated in Spain. The troubling pattern we can document is this. Real grievances create an audience Social media carries slogans across borders. Violent groups can turn demonstrations into opportunities for confrontation. France and Barcelona show how quickly the language of protest can travel and how ordinary people can bear the cost when it becomes destruction. Defending democracy means protecting the right to protest. But it also means refusing to let a political cause become a license to burn, loot, or intimidate, as well as making sure the people starting it are eligible and have the country's best interests at heart. That's all we have today for News Planet. Thanks for watching and we'll see you next time.