Europe’s far-right leaders have jumped on the violence that rocked numerous cities last weekend, framing it as the inevitable consequence of failed liberal governance and open-border policies and insisting only they can restore law and order.
Months away from key elections in Spain, France and Italy, authoritarian nationalists are eager to weaponise the wave of street unrest, originating in peaceful protests over the cost of living and deteriorating public services but hijacked by violent rioters.
Those in opposition have not held back. In France, where cities such as Paris, Marseille and Lyon faced widespread rioting and looting, the far-right National Rally (RN) has denounced centrist incompetence and promised a crackdown.
The party’s president, Jordan Bardella, said the government was “impotent”. The RN leader, Marine Le Pen, said on Wednesday the state was “collapsing” and had “lost control of everything” amid “migratory, budgetary and security chaos”.
Ahead in presidential polls and seeking voters beyond her base, Le Pen has resisted explicitly racialising the unrest, but has framed it more broadly as a result of state and policy failures leading to “anarchic immigration” and “a total loss of authority”.
In Germany – where there were no major protests – the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has stoked fears rioting could spill over the border. Its co-leader Alice Weidel said France’s “violent excesses” were a “warning for Germany”.
Weidel also linked the unrest to immigration, posting: “The dangerous mix of mass migration and leftwing extremism threatens to lead to civil war-like conditions here too … There will only be a turnaround on migration with the AfD!” » | Jon Henley and Guardian correspondents | Wednesday, October 21, 2026