French PM says 'ultra-left' seeking 'deep unrest' ahead of election

We're going to talk more about this programme put forth by the French Prime Minister with Angela Diffley, who joins me on set. Angela, what else did Sébastien Le Corneur have to say? Most importantly, he said that French intelligence had been suggesting that the far left intend to try to disrupt the presidential elections in April and May. That is a very important announcement. he says French intelligence giving him that information and that disruption presumably in two ways it would either be a sort of generalized climate of violence so that an election might be postponed or a refusal to accept the result afterwards those are the two prongs of that he's talked about he was asked about a state of emergency he said for the moment the government found that inappropriate they wouldn't do it it's true that that does involve a lot of conditions but it does allow the police to make sure troublemakers cannot attend demonstrations. As well as that, he talked about money, opening public funds so that reparations could be made, buildings could be rebuilt. The trouble with that is that this is not the first time it's happened in France and a lot of shopkeepers, small businesses, the problem is they repair and it happens again and their insurance premiums are going up all the time. That is a real worry. He spoke about police officers and said that they were doing the very best they could. This, of course, against the idea that only last week we hear on France 24 were talking about the suggestion that French police used excessive force. That is a prevailing discussion here in France. And during the recent demonstrations, a number, over 22 incidents, were referred to the independent police watchdog. The police commissioner, former police commissioner, was speaking today, or the former chief of police was speaking today. He was saying, you know, people should compare France with countries like, for example, the United States. He cited the fact that, you know, well, there is recent statistical knowledge, more recent than what he cited, 19 people killed in the 2022 George Floyd protests in the US and in France, thankfully, no deaths. But there is this real worry about too many bystanders being caught up in this, too many people being injured, too many police officers also being injured. It is a real worry. So we are six months away from the French presidential election. Put this in context for us. What does this mean in terms of politics and democracy? Well, he also talked about the constitutional right of French people to demonstrate, which is sort of de facto being threatened by the fact that again and again in demonstrations, protests for all sorts of different causes, groups of far left anarchists attach themselves, small groups of people intent on violence, attach themselves to different kinds of demonstrations. And this is making it increasingly difficult for ordinary people to exercise the democratic right to protest about whatever grievance they might have. He was pointing out that that is increasingly a problem in France. We should also look at what Emmanuel Macron said last night. He addressed the nation. It was a solemn address. He doesn't do that very often in itself. The idea of addressing the nation marked a sense of gravity. but across the political spectrum he has been criticized for his words which many people suggested he commented on events rather than providing leadership against that shortly beforehand Marine Le Pen gave a solemn address with the French flag and in her study uh saying along the lines of uh this is very clear this is what happened it's a breakdown in law and order we will fix it. And that is a clear direction from the far right, Rassemblement National. A lot of people are expecting their poll numbers to go up in the wake of this. Angela, thanks for that. France 24's Angela Diffley.