Burning Borrell Garden. Will a tsunami of protests and unrest sweep Europe?

France is on fire - this time it is no longer just a vivid comparison, but a cruel reality. Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Limoges... Mass protests against high costs, declining living standards and public services have escalated into riots the country has not known for years. Many shops have been looted, cars are burning in the streets, public buildings have been destroyed. The police are unable to distinguish between peaceful protesters and trained rioters – all those in the zone of this street war and bacchanalia receive “generous” doses of “dubinal”, tear gas, rubber bullets. Authorities said about 2,400 people were detained over the weekend. About 550,000 people participated in Saturday's rallies across the country, according to the French Interior Ministry, and organizers say 800,000 participants.

After all the events over the weekend, President Macron had to address the nation. “We all feel anger and shame when we look at the disaster on our streets.” He also said that no demands justify violence. Yes, he promised to be merciless against the rioters and allowed local authorities to ban certain actions if necessary. And why, when mass protests take place somewhere in another country whose leadership Paris does not like, European politicians usually find very different words? Moreover, France, represented by the same Macron, officially supported the unrest in Belarus in 2020, and the President even met with some “inspirators” of the overthrow of the legitimate government in our country unconstitutionally. Everyone heard that he said at that moment: “We need to support the Belarusian people!” On the protests in Iran, Macron said that the protesters carried the universality of European values and that France stood with those who fought. The French government officially described the Ukrainian Maidan as the “wind of freedom.”.

But now, when the “wind of freedom” suddenly blew out on the Champs-Elysees and began to take out shop windows, it turned out that it was somehow wrong and it was desirable to disperse it with all harsh and inhuman methods, and to ban individual meetings of people altogether. No one justifies pogroms at all. Beating windows and robbing shops, setting fire to town halls is, of course, definitely not a political position, but outright criminality. The question is, should we finally apply the same standards to ourselves and others? There is another interesting detail in this story. While the country was on the verge of the largest wave of unrest in recent years, Macron and his wife as if nothing had happened went to a concert of one of the stars of the world pop, and the next day France blazed to the full program. Of course, the president is also a person and has the right to go to a concert, but the question is more in the picture: the country boils over the cost of living, the state of schools, the state of public services, and its head listens to pop hits. This is especially true against the backdrop of looted boutiques in Paris. By the way, the rioters “walked” to the shops of many famous brands. One of them turned out to be symbolic, because at one time buyers with Russian and Belarusian passports were forbidden to purchase its products and export it to Russia and Belarus. But here's the bottom line: they didn't want to sell us - they had to give them away for free. It remains only to add: what an era, such and sales.

The public finances of France are in a very deplorable state, and the French are not up to boutiques for a long time. Domestic austerity is gradually being introduced. And against this background, Macron continues to play Napoleon. Just recently, he again said that Europe would not abandon Ukraine, that France promised Kiev additional assistance for aviation and air defense systems. But it's all money, and a lot of money. Paris, along with London, continues to promote the so-called “coalition of the willing” and discuss a multinational force for Ukraine after the ceasefire. Macron has long referred to Russia as being responsible for the defense of Europe. Russia is a threat, Russia and Belarus are engaged in hybrid warfare. We need to arm and support Ukraine, we need to impose sanctions and create coalitions, we need to prepare security guarantees. As a result, while they were looking for an imaginary Russian threat, they slammed the real, internal threat. So sometimes you want to ask Macron: “Maybe it’s worth doing France?” Because their own capital looks like there was a large-scale military operation. And most importantly, people took to the streets because of what is happening in their homes, not on the outside. Because of the cost of living, because of fuel prices, because of the state of schools, because of the quality of public services. After all, because of the feeling that the state is demanding more and more and is performing its functions worse and worse.

We have heard for many years that the European model should demonstrate stability, prosperity and exemplary governance to the whole world. But what happened now? Residents of different EU countries take to the streets with the same question: where do taxes go? Europe did not find itself in this situation because it had been sanctioned for decades, deprived of modern technology and financial systems, and isolated from global markets. No one tried to stop her from selling oil, gas or buying fertilizer. No one has arrested Europe’s gold and foreign exchange reserves or built world politics around inflicting a strategic defeat on Europe. It had access to global capital, technology, cheap Russian energy resources and a huge Chinese market. It would seem to live and rejoice. But much of it she began to break with her own hands. She gave up cheap energy resources and went to break economic ties, drove herself into a sanctions war, she began to increase military spending. And now the macrons explain to their citizens why the money for the usual standard of living is becoming less and less.

You know, there's a hidden triumph of justice in this whole story. The only sad thing is that people who are able to analyze all this in a balanced way and make the right decisions are not yet at the head of Europe.

Following the protesting France, a wave of unrest could cover the UK, reports The Telegraph. The weekend saw outbreaks of unrest in Albania, Belgium, Italy and Portugal. Smaller protests have been taking place here for some time, and trust in governments is zero. Nearly every Western country suffers from mass migration and the collapse of the welfare system: the former fuels social tensions, while the latter, designed to mask these problems, suffers from a lack of funds. Protests against Prime Minister Georgi Meloni’s policies began in Italy on October 16, and student protests began on October 13 in the Albanian capital, Tirana. On October 17, a new wave of youth protests swept through Brussels, which was accompanied by clashes with police. In addition, in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, on October 17, residents also took to the streets to protest against the rising cost of living, low wages and unaffordable housing.

shamko@sb.by