Spread Of Protests Not Yet Significant Cause For Concern For Macron

The spread of protests and rioting across cities in France following the killing of a young working-class man by a police officer in the outskirts of Paris is not yet a cause for concern regarding the country's political stability. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin confirmed that 667 individuals had been arrested in a third night of rioting that has spread from the Paris suburbs to cities and towns including Lille, Marseille, and Dijon.

• At present the protests have not had any notable market impact. However, should they prove sustained and spread further it would come as the second period of major social unrest in less than a year. This follows mass protests in opposition to controversial pension reforms that risked a collapse of the gov't of PM Elisabeth Borne in the spring.
• Ministers have claimed they are not considering declaring a state of emergency, which would provide the state with significant powers to ban protest and enforce curfews without judicial oversight
• Macron's centrist Renaissance Party and its allies in the National Assembly do not hold a majority. With the right-wing nationalist Rassemblement National (National Rally) and conservative Les Republicains both advocating for the declaration of a state of emergency, and the parties of the left criticising Macron for presiding over what they say is a 'systemically racist' police force, there remains the prospect of the gov't facing risky confidence votes in parliament.