But what the Brits see now raises eyebrows, Peter McIlvenna, a research assistant in the House of Lords, said on “Washington Watch,” last week.
There are concerns by many Brits that unrest in France could spread elsewhere in Europe.
In Paris and other French cities, riots have led to violence, looting and damage or destruction of some of the country’s historic properties.
Demonstrations continued over the weekend with estimates approaching almost half a million participants. There were 1,314 arrests, according to the Ministry of the Interior in 298 protests around the country. In the midst of it all, the United States’ National Football League (NFL) held a regular season game between Pittsburgh and New Orleans.
Some 3,000 businesses were damaged or looted, CBS News reported. French officials had early pledged to deploy more than 70,000 officers nationwide with assets including helicopters, armored vehicles and water cannons.
Demonstrators in some instances responded with fireworks.
“France has always had a tradition of demonstrations, of protests, and sometimes I in the UK look over enviously at their desire to stand up and to demand change,” McIlvenna told show host Jody Hice.
“But we have had something that I've certainly never witnessed looking across the English Channel into France, and that is the level of riots destruction that we have seen in France,” he said.
Reports include burning and looting of banks and stores numbering into the hundreds, burning cars, rioters clashing with police and one mob entering the home of a local government official.
How it started
The initial demonstrations began in Paris’ working-class northern suburbs as students protested teacher shortages, classes without instructors, poor learning conditions, inadequate facilities and more.
Students began blocking entrances and organizing demonstrations.
By October, the protests had become a national issue, attracting labor unions, Yellow Vest activists and people angry about the government's economic policies. Protestors have expressed anger over high prices for food, fuel, housing and household expenses.
Reuters reported that French intelligence officials told a government crisis meeting October 1 that hard-left politicians had helped initiate the protests.
HonestReportinging reports that pro-Palestinian groups helped mobilize demonstrators and that their flags and messaging appeared during protests that later included violence.
“Behind the unrest lies an overlapping network of extremist and terrorism-connected anti-Israel organizations, radical-left activists and international allies,” the group reports.
“We have seen buildings that survived the First and Second World Wars and yet they've been burned to the ground by these riots. So there's something much more aggressive and dangerous,” McIlvenna said.
In Limoges, masked rioters set first to the 19-century city hall causing the roof to collapse onto lower flowers. The building’s clock tower also collapsed.
“It's the far-left agitators with Islam coming together and causing chaos, and a lot of the violence seems to have come from the pockets that have had mass immigration affected them,” McIlvenna said.
French President Emmanuel Macron blasted the same line of thinking when presented by President Donald Trump.
“If you want to see what is at stake in this Election, just look at what is happening in France — A once-great nation that is being conquered, looted, and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists, and Communists who hate Christianity, and Western Civilization, itself,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Oct. 19.
"For me, there is no visible foreign interference in the events that took place. On the other hand, there was foreign manipulation of information afterwards, yes, and that gave rise to unacceptable and stupid comments from many people, including foreign leaders,” Macron said.
“Such as Donald Trump,” a journalist asked?
“Among others,” Macron replied.
No side of the pond is safe
McIlvenna says Trump is right.
“Mass immigration, it pulls out the heart of a country, and what do people stand for? Being French actually did stand for something, but now it's difficult to know what it stands for in a society and culture that is very different from what it was a generation ago.”
He has concerns for his country and other European nations.
“It has spread to Belgium. There are concerns that it could spread to Italy. There are concerns for the hard-left socialist parts that we have in our political system … they want to stir things up and bring that over here.”
