00:00And since all that looting and violence, French retailers now face hundreds of millions of euros in damage.
00:05From small boutiques to luxury shops on the high streets, all types were targeted by theft and vandalism,
00:11with the Galerie Lafayette Group reporting significant consequences for the vast majority of their shops all across the country.
00:17From the view now from the ground, we can bring in Patrick Molinès.
00:21He's the vice president of the French Mayor's Association and also a member of the European Committee of the Regents.
00:26Good morning, sir. Thank you so much for joining us.
00:29Now, we've seen those devastating pictures from the capital there, but what's it like for smaller towns and, of course,
00:34Dijon, the capital of your region?
00:37Well, it depends on some smaller towns. I mean, the real rural areas are quite calm, actually.
00:43It's mainly in major cities that the bad things happen because it's actually coordinated action from extremists that has nothing
00:53to do with normal protesters.
00:55So let's say in the countryside, things are pretty quiet.
00:58But there's a real blame game going on now politically, and we know it's a tense time in France with
01:02presidential elections coming up next year.
01:04You're from the radical party of the left. We've seen the prime minister blaming the so-called left for this
01:10violence.
01:11How do you react to that?
01:12Well, the radical left is a centre-left party, I should say.
01:16So the name doesn't tell it all.
01:18So we're a centre-left party.
01:20But that's not the question.
01:21The question is, there is a real difference between protesters who want just to say, well, what they complain about,
01:30and that's completely legitimate.
01:31But what happened, the destruction, the town hall attack and everything, this is most probably the fact of extremists, extreme
01:40right and extreme left.
01:42And I personally believe, and we will have evidence of that in a very short time, I'm sure, that there
01:48are also foreign interference in this matter.
01:50Definitely on social media, Russian interference is quite certain, and maybe not only Russian, and maybe also physically.
02:01I mean, some of the attacks were planned.
02:05You don't come into the city and destroy, dismantle some physical equipment without training.
02:13It's not the fact of just people getting angry.
02:16That is not true.
02:17That is not possible.
02:18But these images, of course, of the violence, the vandalism, they've overshadowed the whole story here, which began really with
02:24young people protesting over school conditions and struggling with their day-to-day issues.
02:29What are the core structural problems facing France today, and how can they be addressed?
02:34Well, there are problems all the time.
02:37I mean, we're all in an implementing situation.
02:40I mean, everyone wants to have a better life tomorrow.
02:43One of the problems nowadays is that looking at the future on a bright way is getting harder and harder.
02:49So some student protests about the system that classifies them to go to university.
02:54Some complain about how their lyse, their schools, or their university are in good or not so good shape.
03:03But overall, it's a normal protest at the beginning.
03:07But, of course, six months before the presidential election, some people have interest to make things get harder and harder.
03:15So from a normal and legitimate protestation, we're getting to something that is completely different.
03:22And, again, I insist.
03:23And the committee of the region and the president gave our support to the French mayor and the French citizen.
03:29But there is something at European level we have to see.
03:32This does not happen without foreign interference.
03:35That is certain.
03:37Okay.
03:37Patrick Molnos, thank you so much for joining us this morning.
