French protests swell as peace researcher warns of rising violence and European ripple effect

France has seen a surge of street protests that began over education issues and have grown to encompass broader discontent with high living costs and government policy. Police reported roughly a thousand arrests and hundreds of confrontations with demonstrators in cities including Paris, Nice, Marseille and Strasbourg. Marianne Dahl, a peace researcher, attributes the escalation to economic hardship, declining confidence in political leaders and the ease of mobilisation via social media, which reduces organizers’ control over crowd behaviour.

She warns that radical factions, such as right-wing extremists, are taking advantage of the chaos, further tarnishing the movement’s image. Dahl argues that violence erodes the legitimacy of the protests and diminishes chances of achieving policy change, and she notes that similar conditions could lower the threshold for comparable unrest in Norway.