He shook her hand and posed for selfies. He brandished a protest sign. He accepted a hug from a young fan. He applauded after an enthusiastic, if somewhat off-key, rendition of “La Marseillaise,” the French national anthem. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the combative leader of France’s far-left party, France Insoumise, appeared to enjoy his appearance at a mass demonstration of high school students in Paris on Tuesday. And why not? For a left-wing firebrand who appeals to young people and leads an insurgent party built on grassroots protests, the student-led demonstrations that have swept France are a golden opportunity. Seven months away from a presidential election in which Mélenchon is a real contender, it could not be more timely. However, demonstrations have at times escalated into violent clashes between protesters and police, carrying serious risks for a politician seeking widespread acceptance. Mélenchon, 75, appears to recognize the danger, tempering his usually belligerent statements after the French recoiled from images of tear gas and burning trash cans. “I ask you, young people, wherever you are, to embrace the discipline of fighting,” Mélenchon said at a rally last week. He encouraged students to take to the streets, but added a warning. “Nothing but non-violent fighting methods should be used,” he said. Marching on Tuesday, Mélenchon wore a white armband, signifying his role as a kind companion to the students: an authority figure who could calm protesters if their youthful passions boiled over and protect them from police if fights broke out. However, French government officials say Mélenchon plays neither role. Far from moderating the students, they accuse their party of fomenting unrest for political gain. What began as an organic protest movement, these officials say, has been hijacked by France Insoumise, emboldening bad actors who want to burn trash cans and launch fireworks at police officers. “Why wear a white armband to give those wearing black balaclavas a better advantage?” French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said angrily on Tuesday to the party’s leader in the National Assembly, Mathilde Panot. “The reality is that you are ambiguous about violence,” Lecornu continued, “because violence is part of your political plan to lead the country into chaos between now and the presidential elections.” Mélenchon, Ms Panot and their colleagues strongly reject these accusations. Panot said the violence was a result of heavy-handed police tactics and accused the government of treating youths like “military adversaries.” Still, there is no doubt that party leaders have walked an increasingly fine line since students began blocking schools last month. They have supported the students’ list of complaints and defended their right to take to the streets. In some cases, they have even joined them. “Mélenchon is apparently trying to occupy two positions simultaneously,” said Philippe Marlière, a professor of French and European politics at University College London. “Political amplifier of the revolt and politically disinterested defender of a movement that supposedly arose spontaneously.” No one embodies those contradictions better than Bally Bagayoko, a rising France Unbowed star and mayor of St.-Denis, a working-class suburb north of Paris that has been the epicenter of the unrest. Critics pounced on a brief television interview Bagayoko gave last week after showing up at an early school blockade. “Violence, at a certain point, can be legitimate,” he said, although he was quick to add that his message to students was that it is always best to avoid violence. The charismatic Bagayoko, 53, a former semi-professional basketball player, has become a conspicuous presence at blockades and demonstrations. Last Thursday, standing in front of Rosa Parks High School in St.-Denis, he listened to students, calmed arguments among them, met with visiting journalists and even put out a small fire lit by a handful of troublemakers. Asked about the risk of violence, Mr Bagayoko said: “Of course, here and there, there may be some dysfunction, some mistakes that are made. But these are the signs of young people, who are not necessarily experienced activists and that, in the heat of the protector “When Bally brings out a burning trash can so as not to set the building on fire, he is the one accused of setting the trash can on fire,” Mélenchon said at Sunday’s rally. In recent polls, Mélenchon is projected to finish just behind center-right frontrunner Édouard Philippe in the race to replace President Emmanuel Macron. Both. That would put Mélenchon within striking distance of advancing to the second round of French elections next spring, the closest he has come to victory in three previous presidential campaigns. Although Mélenchon is running as an insurgent, he spent much of his career as a member of the Socialist Party, France’s main center-left party. He served as a minister during the government of Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin before leaving the party in 2008. He founded France Unbowed in. 2016. Mélenchon, a former Trotskyist, offers simple solutions to complex problems: canceling some of France’s debt, for example. He said France’s debt-ridden government should spend more money on schools. Analysts said Mélenchon benefited from hunger among voters for radical change. But his party, commonly known as LFI, an acronym for its French name, La France Insoumise, faces deep resistance. credibility, while some of its leaders, including Mélenchon himself, have been accused of anti-Semitism. And then there are concerns about violence. “Almost seven French people in 10 say that France Insoumise is a party that incites violence,” said Antoine Bristielle, director of the Public Opinion Observatory of the Jean Jaurès Foundation, a left-wing think tank in Paris. extreme right, the National Rally, said Bristielle. Even in “rebellious France,” he said, “it can be quite negative for them in electoral terms.” Giulia Imbert and Ségolène Le Stradic contributed to the report.
