Is Paris safe during protests? What Americans in France say

Underfunded schools and a cost of living crisis have sparked a widespread protest movement in France. As the protests gave way in October to riots and looting that authorities blamed on fringe groups, the unrest did not go unnoticed by US media.

US President Donald Trump called France a nation that is “being conquered, looted and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists and communists who hate Christianity” at an October 19 rally in Kansas. Meanwhile, Fox News reported that “Paris is burning,” while The American Spectator ran an opinion piece headlined “France Is Burning. Is America Next?”

At the same time, the US State Department updated its travel advisory for France on October 21 warning about recent violence and unrest linked to protests.

Amid the worrying coverage from the US, many Americans have weighed up the safety of travelling to Paris, and France in general.

A member of the Facebook group Americans in France asked: “What is everyone’s level of security and safety right now? I head back in December, but the news is terrifying to see. All these beautiful historic buildings...”

Worried calls from friends and family

For Americans already in France, the coverage meant worried calls and texts from back home, said Tatum Neill, a creative director based in Louisiana who was visiting France in October.

“I had lots of phone calls and text messages from everyone in the States asking if I was okay,” Mr Neill told The Connexion.

However, some Americans in Paris say the reality on the ground differs from the narrative pushed by certain US media outlets. While both American and French cultures are known for valuing the right to protest, how demonstrations look varies between the two countries.

The movement began on September 17, when teachers, students and parents blocked the entrance of a high school in Créteil, south-east of Paris, to protest against staff shortages. 

Blockades then spread to more than 1,000 of France’s roughly 3,700 high schools, and the movement widened to include university students, unions and the Yellow Vests concerned with the rising cost of living. 

It descended into violence on October 17, when an estimated 550,000 to 800,000 people marched nationwide, town halls in Marseille and Limoges were attacked, and about 3,000 shops were looted, prompting curfews including in central Paris. Between 410,000 and 800,000 people protested again a week later, and a nationwide strike called by unions took place November 5.

William Muck, a political science professor at North Central College in Illinois, said the French protests may have resonated in the US because of Americans’ connections to France – whether cultural or as a holiday destination.

“This has broken through in a way that other protest movements around the world haven’t connected to Americans,” he said.

Student protests and unrest over the rising cost of living are not limited to France. Demonstrations over living costs or education have also taken place in Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece in recent weeks, where students in Athens chanted in solidarity with their French counterparts.

“What’s happening in France is really happening elsewhere all around the world,” Mr Muck said.

Riots or protests?

Phineas Rueckert, an independent investigative journalist based in Paris, has covered the French student protests since they started.

He said calling the unrest just ‘protests’ – which also included school blockades that saw hundreds of schools closed – might be too simplistic.

“It is a pretty wide-scale movement that’s going on,” said Mr Rueckert, who has covered the beginnings of the movement in Paris’ suburban schools, as well as bigger protests that happened later in the centre of the city.

An American who moved to France in 2018 for a master’s degree, Mr Rueckert acknowledged the surprising levels of rioting.

“But that was mostly on the side of one protest, and groups that had nothing to do with the organisers of the movement,” he said.

Mr Neill said he noticed a dichotomy between what he saw about the movement in US media and the conversations he had with Parisians while in the city in the heat of the protests.

“It didn’t feel like a war zone that people in the media here would suggest,” he said.

As for the migration point, Mr Muck said immigration is an issue in France, which makes the country attractive to US conservatives as a kind of front line in the fight over immigration.

Mr Rueckert also pointed to that difference in representation.

“I can totally understand how being an American, watching CNN or MSNBC or CBS and seeing the coverage, you could be super freaked out,” he said.

Ultimately, however, “France is not on fire,” he said.

Why French protests look different

While France and the US share a revolutionary past, protests in the two countries differ.

First, the French protest a lot. Since he moved to Paris, Mr Rueckert said, there has been a protest in the city nearly every week. French protests are also well structured, with a clear starting and ending destination.

“In my experience, usually any types of violent interactions or destruction comes at the very end,” Mr Rueckert said.

The protests are generally contained in one part of the city – Bastille, Place de la République, Place de la Nation, Avenue des Champs-Elysées. That said, October 17 was an “anomaly”, Mr Rueckert said.

Traces of violence – graffiti, litter, evidence of looting – were all over the city, particularly on the Right Bank, Le Monde reported.

Another major difference is how protests look. France is smaller geographically, with more people who protest regularly, Mr Rueckert pointed out. That means these protests take up more space, looking more impressive and well-connected than American protests that are spread out.

Mr Muck said France’s centralised government makes it easier to direct attention to officials. In the US, protest movements sometimes lack organisation because there are authorities on many levels – local, state and federal – that protesters may try to target.

In the US, where politics is gripped by partisanship, protests also quickly become about one party versus the other. France’s multiparty system makes this harder.

For Americans struggling to understand the recent unrest in France, Mr Muck emphasised the origins of the struggle. He said it is an outgrowth of long-standing frustrations among young people over basic core issues. Underlying their demands is a delicate balancing act: how can France provide citizen services without sliding deeper into an already dramatic debt?

“Until that political system begins to address those concerns and give young people opportunities for jobs, to buy a home, to have a life that previous generations did, you should anticipate more of this,” he said.

Navigating Paris during protests

Visitors can reduce their risk by finding out in advance where demonstrations usually begin. Marches must be declared to the prefecture, and each city has its usual starting points and routes, according to the Join Us in France travel podcast, whose guests were in the country on October 17. 

Its advice is to look these up before booking and avoid staying right by protest routes – in Paris, that means not on Place de la République. Hotel or host staff can advise on which streets are safe, and consider the Left Bank over the Right: on October 17, trouble in Paris centred on the Right Bank, including Place de la République, Châtelet-Les Halles and Rue de Rivoli, while the Left Bank was reportedly calm.

Metro stations often close during protests, so check the Bonjour RATP and IDF Mobilités apps for updates on the day. Keep your phone in your pocket rather than taking pictures, and avoid the main squares after dark, when those still around may not be the people who marched in the afternoon.

Anyone caught in tear gas should protect their face with a piece of cloth, shut their eyes, take shallow breaths and move against a wall.

If you see police vans, barricades or groups of police, that could be a sign protesters  are coming to the area.