{"text":[[{"start":6.56,"text":"Even for a country inured to mass protests, the ferocious rioting and pillaging that exploded across France over the weekend was shocking. Some 2,400 people were arrested and at least 3,000 shops and businesses were ransacked or damaged. Mobs broke into or set fire to municipal buildings, giving their rampage an insurrectionary feel. President Emmanuel Macron’s already seriously depleted authority now lies in the smouldering ruins of Limoges’ 19th-century town hall, set ablaze by a mob."}],[{"start":39.1,"text":"The government has blamed far-left extremists and criminal elements for instigating the disorder that followed a day of largely peaceful protests against falling living standards, failing public services and a host of other grievances. Anti-capitalist anarchists from the so-called black bloc may well have had a hand in the violence — casseurs, or wreckers, and casual looters, seeking booty or a thrill certainly played a part. They each bear responsibility for the mindless chaos and destruction. But the government should carry significant blame, too, for a colossal failure of policing and intelligence."}],[{"start":73.58,"text":"The authorities badly misjudged the scale of Saturday’s protests and the presence of agitators. The police forces deployed were insufficient and in some cases underequipped. Their haphazard approach to public disturbances is also in question. During weeks of demonstrations by high school students, they sometimes used heavy-handed tactics. This time they were underpowered. On Monday Macron refused to accept the resignation of interior minister Laurent Nuñez, himself a former top official at the Paris police. Ministers have fallen on their swords for less."}],[{"start":107.04,"text":"This orgy of street violence projects an image of a government that has lost control. It corrodes public trust in state authorities, undermines business confidence and sullies France’s international reputation, with potentially damaging consequences for its important tourist industry. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, who lacks a parliamentary majority, and the president, who lacks popular support, cannot realistically do much in their last months in office before the elections next spring. But they must at least keep the country safe. Lecornu called for local curfews on Monday to prevent further unrest and has not ruled out declaring a state of emergency."}],[{"start":144.44,"text":"One reason the government has struggled to defuse the high school protests, which now threaten to swell into something more generalised, is they have no money to throw at the problem — the traditional response to social grievances. Macron found some €11bn in giveaways to defuse the Yellow Vests protests of 2018-19. This time the coffers are truly empty. Bond markets are piling pressure on Paris as investors fret about the lack of an agreed path to debt stabilisation. The government intends to make €43bn in spending cuts and tax rises in next year’s budget. Any attempt to spend its way out of trouble could rebound with a renewed debt sell-off and higher borrowing costs."}],[{"start":190.24,"text":"With six months to go to the presidential election, the protests and violent clashes of recent weeks have bolstered France’s political extremes while undermining the centre. For far-right leader Marine Le Pen the sense of a government losing control is a gift. Her party has blamed immigration for the violence, betraying its worst instincts. But it is hard to quibble with her description of a presidency that is “out of steam, exhausted and disoriented”. The far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, meanwhile, has encouraged protests and used them to enhance his appeal as an anti-system candidate, although this weekend’s rioting could puncture his recent poll rise. Édouard Philippe, the leading centrist, is tarnished by association to a weak government and struggling to define a compelling new direction."}],[{"start":239.68,"text":"Indeed, the widespread grievances and tinderbox atmosphere have laid bare the depth of France’s social problems. Regrettably, none of the candidates seems to know what to do to really fix them."}],[{"start":255.6,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1792476873_3664.mp3"}