# What led to the eruption of violence across France last weekend?

An episode of [In The News](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1566625447), 20 Oct 2026, 23 min.

Audio: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/in-the-news/e/6ad6b72081c44c34e653b6e0/media.mp3

In Paris and beyond last weekend, half a million people took to the streets in protest. Those highlighting the cost-of-living crisis joined the ongoing student protest over the state of the French public education system. But the anti-Government sentiment turned violent on Saturday, with historic public buildings set alight, shops destroyed and looted, and over two thousand arrests being made. With police on streets quickly overwhelmed as events escalated, the blame game and political points scoring began in earnest. What sparked Saturday’s violence and will French President Emmanuel Macron be able to restore some order with more protests planned? Irish Times Paris-based Europe correspondent Naomi O’Leary has been following the protests closely and she joined host Aideen Finnegan to explain the backdrop to last Saturday’s eruption of violence. Presented by Aideen Finnegan. Produced by John Casey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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