Authorities blame hard-left militants as well as opportunistic young perpetrators for last weekend's destruction and looting, when a minority hijacked largely peaceful protests. Meanwhile, far-right parties in Europe, egged on by the Trump administration, are seeking to capitalise on the unrest through lies that immigrants and open borders are to blame, and that a strong hand is needed to restore order.
A wave of unrest that began with teenagers at a high school soon drew in hundreds of thousands of people nationwide and then spread across the continent. While Europe is experiencing distinct movements with distinct causes, demands, and actors that should not be elided, the underlying factor in all these cases is the breakdown of the social contract.
Governments worried about debt and fearful of the bond markets either cannot or will not offer solutions. The affordability crisis, heavy-handed security forces, and the sense that ordinary people are being left behind while governments have no convincing answers for them were at work in those cases too.
France sneezed, and Europe has again caught the cold. The future course of the continent is being shaped, for better or worse, on the streets as well as at the ballot box.
Young people are understandably angry at inadequate education and job precarity. They are struggling to rent places of their own well into their 20s and are paying for pensions which they do not believe that they will ever receive themselves, while the climate crisis haunts their futures.