French intelligence accuses Mélenchon of fuelling the protests. The ‘manoeuvre’ by LFI and its proxies

Paris. “Le azioni dei liceali nella Seine-Saint-Denis: un movimento dalla fisionomia inedita”. This is the title of the confidential French intelligence report devoted to the student uprising against the cuts in the new budget, the lack of resources and staff, overcrowded classrooms and the dilapidated state of school buildings. The report, dated 29 September and published today by Le Figaro, not only analyses the secondary school pupils’ protests—which have become more radicalised in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis and spread to universities—but also points the finger at those who are fuelling the violence and jeopardising the stability of the Republic: the far-left movement, spearheaded by Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s *La France insoumise* (LFI).

“The pursuit of disorder and the adoption by secondary school pupils of tactics usually employed during episodes of urban violence make this an unprecedented movement,” reads the intelligence report, which speaks openly of the “manipulation” of the protests by student unions and political movements aligned with the radical left. It was this report that prompted French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to convene an emergency interministerial crisis meeting on Thursday and, at the conclusion of the summit, to issue a scathing statement against Mélenchon’s party. There is a “consensus amongst the intelligence services regarding the origin of the movement”: it is a “manoeuvre organised by LFI and its far-left proxies”, the document states. The intelligence report goes further, accusing the far left of relying on violence as an electoral strategy ahead of the 2027 presidential elections. “The climate of social tension” that has arisen in recent days, with arson attacks and assaults on law enforcement officers and school staff, “could be part of a strategy of escalation by the most radical trade unions and political organisations to impose their ideas ahead of the upcoming national elections”. Manuel Bompard, national coordinator of LFI, accused the government of “sinking into conspiracy theories”, rejecting the allegations of political exploitation.

Yet it is Mélenchon himself who has incited the riots in recent days, declaring himself ready to “defend our young people from police barbarism”; it is the LFI mayor of Saint-Denis, Bally Bagayoko, who, after joining the demonstrators in the streets, singing and dancing with them in front of a burning rubbish bin, described the violence against the police as “legitimate”; it is the LFI parliamentary group leader, Mathilde Panot, who said she was “horrified” by the “shameful repression” of the police against the students, without a word of solidarity for the dozens of police officers and gendarmes who were injured. According to an Odoxa-Backbone poll for *Le Figaro*, 62 per cent of French people believe the student mobilisation is justified, but at the same time condemn the politicisation of the protest by Mélenchon and his colleagues. 74 per cent of those surveyed believe that LFI is encouraging young people to resort to violence, and 78 per cent regard the party’s actions as an electoral strategy.

According to the secret services, “there is a clear intention to cause disorder, particularly through acts of urban violence, without any specific social demands” and “it is evident that sixth-form students are being driven to carry out these actions by far-left elements identified both within the student union structures of Paris 8 University (Le Poing levé, FSE) and the University of Paris Nanterre (FSE), and in political organisations such as the Revolutionary Young Communists, Révolution permanente and LFI’. The identitarian right is also attempting to exploit the situation, against the backdrop of the presidential election campaign. The Rassemblement National candidate, Marine Le Pen, said that Mélenchon “bears a heavy responsibility for the situation our country finds itself in”, accusing him of having gone “to secondary schools to incite young people”, of having instigated “his supporters to rise up” and of having sent “his MPs to schools”. Bruno Retailleau, the ultra-conservative president of Les Républicains, the Gaullist party, has even called for a debate to “outlaw” LFI, “a subversive party” that is “fascinated by violence”. The former Macronist Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, president of Renaissance, called on Mélenchon and the other Insoumis to stop using students as electoral “cannon fodder”, whilst the Social-Democratic candidate and leader of Place Publique, Raphaël Glucksmann, whilst understanding the reasons for the protest, urged the students to renounce “violence”, because, contrary to the claims of Saint-Denis’s LFI mayor, Bally Bagayoko, “it cannot be legitimate”.