National Rally gains most from France's unrest, analyst says

Political scientist Jacob Ross distinguishes students' education demands from rioting and looting, arguing that calmer streets have not resolved the grievances.

Channel: ZDFheute Nachrichten ·

GermanyStory of October 27, 2026Trari Newsroom

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Frankreich: Wer profitiert von den Ausschreitungen?

Things we can learn from the video

Press to jump

0:00The report shows cleanup and unrest, alongside arrest figures following protests in France.
0:32National Rally launches its campaign in Orléans; Jewish students interrupt Jordan Bardella's speech.
3:10Ross says the streets are calmer, but the grievances behind the protests remain unresolved.
4:00Citing authorities, Ross distinguishes peaceful students, far-left rioters and young people exploiting disorder to loot.
5:11Students' original demands concern deteriorating, overcrowded schools and an opaque university admissions system.
6:55Ross says polling indicates gains for La France Insoumise and, more strongly, National Rally.

France's streets have become quieter, but the political effects of the unrest are still unfolding. Political scientist Jacob Ross says polling points to gains for both Jean-Luc Mélenchon's La France Insoumise on the left and, more strongly, Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally.

Speaking from Paris to Germany's public broadcaster Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), on its ZDFheute Nachrichten channel, Ross separates the original school protests from the violence that followed. Citing French authorities and domestic intelligence services, he describes three groups: peaceful students, autonomous far-left rioters, and young people from the suburbs using the disorder to loot.

The students' demands, he explains, concern dilapidated and overcrowded schools and a university admissions system they find opaque. Those problems remain unresolved even as the immediate security situation improves.

The report says a large police deployment prevented destruction on the scale seen during previous weekends. Nevertheless, France's interior minister reported more than 1,400 arrests and hundreds of injuries among police and demonstrators, while saying the willingness to use violence remained similarly high.

Against that backdrop, the report follows National Rally's campaign launch in Orléans, held under tight security. Jewish students interrupt party president Jordan Bardella's speech. Le Pen then presents a platform combining schools and health care with opposition to crime and immigration.

The juxtaposition supplies the question in the video's title, "Frankreich: Wer profitiert von den Ausschreitungen?" ("France: Who benefits from the riots?"). Ross's answer is not that the protesters share a single political project. Rather, parties at different ends of the spectrum are trying to turn the unrest into electoral support, with National Rally benefiting most in the short-term polling he cites.