France is on a knife edge

Yesterday was a day of anarchy in France – and the protests overnight have led to King Charles’s state visit to France, which was due to start this weekend, being cancelled. The King had been due to visit Paris and Bordeaux, two of the cities hit by the most extreme violence. In Bordeaux, a town hall was sacked. In Lorient, a police station was attacked – and in Nantes a court was vandalised. The worst of the violence was in Paris. Hundreds of thugs clad in black fought running battles with police, 149 of whom were injured, and they also smashed and looted shops, banks and restaurants. Gérald Darmanin, the Interior Minister, attributed the violence to far-left extremists to whom he addressed a message on Thursday evening: ‘I want to tell them that we are extremely determined, that violence will not succeed.’ 

That is a challenge likely to be accepted by the extremists, an estimated 1,500 of whom were in Paris on Thursday.