Amid media reports that the ongoing French riots are led by students protesting for education reforms, just 15 of the 50 organizations identified in connection with the ongoing demonstrations are student or youth groups. The demonstrations have remained violent, resulting in thousands of arrests.
The protests have been portrayed as student-led over issues including overcrowded public schools and teacher shortages. However, skepticism has persisted that the protests have been weaponized by far-left organizations in the country. A previous Reuters report highlighted a memo read during a crisis meeting with the French prime minister that reportedly cited intelligence assessments identifying the left-wing party La France Insoumise (LFI) as a force seeking to push the movement forward.
Now, a Fox News investigation identified 50 organizations connected to the movement and its broader network of supporters. Of those, only 15 were student or youth organizations, including communist youth groups and a Muslim student association. The remaining 35 were adult groups spanning labor unions, social groups, and political parties.
“The remaining 35 adult groups include a dozen labor unions; eight communist or socialist organizations; five groups spanning other issues from taxes to parental advocacy, environmental activism, economic justice, international media and diaspora organizing; five civil-rights or human-rights groups; four political parties, including La France Insoumise, or France Unbowed, and the French Communist Party; one Palestinian advocacy group that complete the ‘red-green’ alliance of leftists with Muslims,” Fox News reported. “The network stretches from French classrooms and labor federations to communist organizations in Greece and Britain and international socialist media outlets, such as BreakThrough News, demonstrating how a domestic education dispute has attracted organizations advancing broader political agendas involving capitalism, ‘austerity,’ policing, military spending and Israel.”
Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, compared the network to left-wing activist groups involved in protests in the US.
"What we're seeing here is the same Red-Green ecosystem that disrupts infrastructure choke holds in our country such as the Brooklyn Bridge, college campuses and congressional hearings," Gonzalez told Fox News.
The investigation also highlighted statements made by Les Soulèvements de la Terre, a far-left environmental organization that publicly supported protesting students.
"Glory to the rebellious high school students,” the group declared in a statement amid the unrest. It also called for a broader political confrontation, using the phrase "Pour un soulèvement antifasciste," meaning "For an antifascist uprising."
