Emmanuel Macron bans protests to shield capital from the poor

By Maya Ellison · Reporting from Detroit · October 22, 2026

President Emmanuel Macron is criminalizing dissent over failing schools and soaring costs to protect businesses, a move that only deepens the systemic neglect of France's working class.

Emmanuel Macron is treating the symptoms of a dying social contract with a police baton. By banning "illegitimate" protests, the French president is not protecting the Republic. He is protecting the storefronts of the rich from the anger of the poor. When a government decides that the right to assemble is less important than the comfort of a luxury retailer, it has stopped governing and started policing. This is a choice to prioritize capital over classrooms.

The cost of a disposable zip code

This fire did not start with "seditious" groups. It started in September at a high school in Créteil. RFI English reports the unrest began over a lack of staff. Students there are fighting against dilapidated facilities and underfunded schools. They see the state withdrawing from the lower-income neighborhoods where they live.

I know this story. I grew up in Flint, Michigan. I watched the state decide my zip code was disposable. When the water turned brown and the houses were foreclosed, the people in charge didn't talk about "sedition." They talked about budgets. They treated our desperation as a nuisance.

In France, the students' cry for better schools morphed into a broader revolt. People are drowning under soaring living costs. NBC News notes that the unrest expanded to include these grievances. This is not a plot to bring down the Republic. It is a plea to make the Republic work for everyone, not just the people in the Élysée palace.

Protecting the bags, ignoring the books

Macron's response is a masterclass in neoliberal cruelty. He claims the bans are necessary to protect public buildings and businesses. RFI English reports that the luxury group Hermès increased security at its stores. The state is more worried about a handbag boutique than a crumbling classroom.

The crackdown is swift and punitive. The Guardian reports that 2,500 people have been arrested since last weekend. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin is boasting about the speed of the system. DW reports that courts jailed 217 people in fast-track trials.

This is the same logic used in the Belarusian protests of 2020. A leader labels dissent as "seditious" to criminalize people who are simply tired of failing state services. It is a tactic designed to frighten the cautious into silence.

The state is also using the same "public safety" pretext seen during Occupy Wall Street. They clear the streets to protect the flow of money. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has promised a "massive" security operation for the coming weekend. He is deploying the army of the state to shield the assets of the few.

The ghost of May 68

Macron is repeating the same script from the Gilets Jaunes era. In 2018 and 2019, he dismissed grassroots anger over fuel prices as illegitimate before turning to police crackdowns. He believes that if you ban the march, you kill the movement. He is wrong.

This is the ghost of May 68. The current unrest shares the same mechanism: student-led grievances over dilapidated educational infrastructure and state repression trigger a nationwide general strike and a broader uprising against the systemic failures of the Republic. History shows that when you squeeze the youth and the workers at the same time, they eventually find each other.

The government tried to buy peace with a meeting. Sébastien Lecornu met with union representatives on Wednesday. Union leaders told NBC News that the meeting produced no concrete proposals. The state offered a conversation, but no money for schools and no relief for the cost of living.

The ledger is now open. The students in Créteil and the workers in the factories are reading the same page. A day of action is scheduled for Nov. 5. The state can ban the routes in Paris and Lyon, but it cannot ban the hunger of a generation that has been told to wait while the luxury stores are boarded up.

Emmanuel Macron is betting that fear is stronger than desperation. He is wrong. By fast-tracking protesters into jails and shielding the wealthy, he is only proving the protesters' point. The state has become a security guard for the rich. Justice would require a massive investment in public education and a tax on the concentrated wealth that Macron protects. Without that, the "return to calm" he wants is just the silence of a graveyard. The November strikes will show that the working class is still very much alive.

Emmanuel Macron bans protests to shield capital from the poor

The cost of a disposable zip code

Protecting the bags, ignoring the books

The ghost of May 68

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