Despite a ban on public gatherings Paris, riots continued over the weekend in France with clashes between police and protestors around the city. Moreover, the scope of the protests continued to widen with a protest in Lyon that was organized by anarchists and other left-leaning youth on Saturday. However, some news sources have pointed out that due to the almost immediate response of the police in Lyon, the allegedly anarchist-led violence may have been a police provocation designed to further dismiss the grievances of those participating in the rebellion. As a result of the riot in Lyon, public gatherings were prohibited in the city and due to continued violence across France the government is asking for a three-month extension on emergency powers.
Statements and actions in solidarity with the riots continued over the weekend as well. On Friday, the radical French newspaper No Pasaran issued a statement analyzing the riots as a consequence of the far right’s rise to prominence in France and describing the violence of the riots as nothing compared to the violence of capitalism. Similarly, the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front in Turkey issued a statement blaming imperialism for the rebellion and described the pervasive racism in French society as a consequence of its imperial heritage. In Athens, Greek anarchists have staged a number of actions in solidarity with immigrants in France including demonstrations at the French embassy and multiple attacks on the French Institute. In the United States, the ORGANIC Collective also issued a statement supporting the resistance of French immigrant communities and placing the actions with in the wider context of the global movement against borders.
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