Any hope that the two week ‘confinement’ imposed by President Macron would heal France’s deep divisions has vanished as swiftly as food on the supermarket shelves here.
There is growing anger in the provinces at the sudden arrival of thousands of well-heeled Parisians, who have fled the capital for their second homes. Many seaside residents in Brittany and the Côte d’Azur are senior citizens and they are furious about the sight of selfish Parisians stripping their stores of essential goods.
Back in Paris, meanwhile, video footage has been uploaded onto several right-leaning news outlets of some mild disorder outside shops in districts such as Barbès, Château Rouge and La Chapelle. These are suburbs with large immigrant populations so one doesn’t need a degree from the Sorbonne to understand the implication. It’s a shame these outlets don’t devote the same amount of coverage to the men and women who are stacking supermarket shelves, operating the tills, cleaning hospital wards and emptying the bins.
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