Month: October 2026

France moves to cut welfare benefits for convicted looters and rioters

Riposte Laique

The French Government has drawn up a ministerial circular that would allow authorities to cut social welfare benefits for people convicted of looting and rioting during the urban unrest that began on October 17.

Jointly drafted by justice minister Gérald Darmanin and housing minister Vincent Jeanbrun, the directive aims to deduct the estimated financial gains derived from selling stolen goods directly from state assistance payments.

The aim of a separate “rioter pays” bill is to establish a “new joint and several civil liability”, which would make it possible to impose collective fines on all participants in a violent action, Journal du Dimanche reported.

The reductions would apply across several core welfare schemes, including the revenu de solidarité active (RSA), France’s basic income support, housing benefits (APL), family allowances and unemployment insurance.

“Rioters, looters, thieves: Social benefits are over!” Jeanbrun said on X on October 19.

Under the planned mechanism, welfare bodies would treat the estimated proceeds from fenced or stolen goods as undeclared income, reducing monthly benefit disbursements accordingly. The justice ministry said the aim was to deduct illegal income of any kind.

The circular reflects the government’s broader effort to target the financial incentives surrounding street unrest and the informal economy.

The justice ministry has indicated that the deduction framework is also intended to apply to other illicit operations, including narcotics distribution, contraband tobacco and the sale of counterfeit goods.

Under French law, the benefit cuts would only apply to individuals who have been convicted in court, rather than suspects facing initial police custody. The ministerial circular is expected to be signed and issued to welfare agencies in the coming days.

The administrative measure dovetails with a wider “rioter pays” bill that the French Senate is due to debate on October 27. The Government presented the text in the Council of Ministers on September 16 and brought the timetable forward after the latest unrest.

That proposal seeks to introduce collective civil liability for individuals taking part in violent assemblies, compelling participants to cover public and commercial repair costs. It would also lift the rule that housing benefit and family allowances cannot be seized.

A law of April 10, 2019 already set out a “rioter pays” principle, though it has been little used because those responsible are rarely identified.

The ministerial clampdown follows the violence and looting that began on October 17, which left at least 3,000 commercial premises damaged or ransacked across several French cities, according to a government count published on October 19.

Business federations and government assessments estimate the direct physical damage and stock losses at hundreds of millions of euros. Carrefour chief executive Alexandre Bompard, who heads the FCD retail federation, gave that estimate on October 18.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said affected businesses could place staff on State-funded short-time working from October 20. A national riot insurance fund written into the 2026 budget law has yet to take effect, pending European Commission approval and a government decree.

French insurers are braced for claims expected to rival the €793 million in insured losses France Assureurs recorded after the riots of June and July 2023.

More than 2,400 people had been arrested by October 19.

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‘He attacked me from behind’ – 21-year-old German student allegedly raped by 2 North African men in Italy

The 19-year-old German woman was raped in the vicinity of Trotter Park in Milan. Screengrab youtube

A 21-year-old German Erasmus student reported being raped by two men in the early hours of Oct. 15 while walking home from a night out in the NoLo neighborhood, police said. She told police she believed the men were likely North African.

The woman told investigators that she was attacked from behind near Parco Trotter, around the intersection of Via Crespi and Via Giacosa, shortly before 5:00 a.m. She said the men restrained her, prevented her from screaming or escaping, and assaulted her in a secluded spot before fleeing.

“He attacked me from behind and knocked me to the ground. Then he took off my pants,” said the victim.

An Italian couple visiting the city on vacation encountered her distressed and in shock. She told them in English that two men had attacked her from behind and raped her. The pair called emergency services. Carabinieri and medical responders arrived, noted bruising, and took her first to a hospital and then to the Mangiagalli clinic, which specializes in sexual-violence cases. She received medical examinations and psychological support.

The student, in Milan through the European Erasmus exchange program, had spent the evening in a local club before heading toward her student housing. According to Italian news outlet Il Giornale, she may have crossed paths with one of the men earlier that night.

After the rape, her parents arrived from Germany.

Investigators are reviewing public and private surveillance footage from the area, which captured two male figures near the scene around the time of the reported assault, along with cell-phone data and other technical evidence.

No suspects have been publicly identified or arrested. One Italian newspaper, Il Giorno MIlano, described an attacker pulling down her pants after throwing her to the ground and then briefly pretending to comfort her when passersby appeared nearby.

Descriptions varied slightly across reports, including references to olive skin and an age range of roughly 30 to 40 for one man.

Remix News has covered a number of stories involving German tourists being victimized in Italy by Middle-Eastern males over the last year, including a 17-year-old German student who said she was raped by a Turkish man just last month. In addition, a German woman was beheaded near Florence earlier this year, with Italian police arresting a North African suspect.

rmx

Far-Left Extremist Arrested over Limoges Town Hall Arson as Terror Probe Looms

Limoges Town Hall. Wikimedia Commons, Lucas Destrem, CC-BY-SA-4.0

French police have arrested a 40-year-old far-left extremist in connection with the devastating arson attack on Limoges Town Hall during nationwide riots on Saturday, 17 October. The suspect, reportedly already flagged as a national security threat, was detained on Tuesday, 20 October, as France’s anti-terrorism investigators joined the investigation into the destruction of the historic building.

The man was arrested at approximately 6:15am by officers from the elite RAID unit in Val-d’Issoire, around 50 kilometres from Limoges. According to Le Parisien, police sources described him as an ‘ultra-left activist’ already on France’s so-called ‘fiche S’ security watchlist and known to authorities for violence against police and other public officials. Limoges prosecutor Émilie Abrantes confirmed the arrest, and the suspect was placed in police custody for questioning.

The investigation, initially opened for ‘destruction of property by dangerous means as part of an organized group’, has also been referred to France’s Anti-Terrorism Sub-Directorate (SDAT). Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Monday that the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office was considering whether to take over the case.

The arrest comes three days after masked far-left militants set fire to Limoges’s 143-year-old town hall, a 19th-century architectural landmark and symbol of French republican heritage. The blaze destroyed its roof, caused the collapse of its 43-metre bell tower and devastated much of the interior. Haute-Vienne prefect Maurice Barate described the destruction as a ‘heritage catastrophe’.

Limoges Mayor Guillaume Guérin, a member of the centre-right Republicans, accused organized ultra-left militants of deliberately targeting the building. Speaking to Le Monde on Sunday, he said around 500–600 far-left activists had infiltrated a demonstration of around 5,000 people. The attackers arrived equipped with mortars and a 200-kilogram battering ram, while anarchist, Palestinian and New Anticapitalist Party flags were visible among the militants.

‘The ultra-left organized the logistics. They had prepared their attack and knew how to get inside,’ Guérin said. He also criticized serious failures in the police response, claiming that national police had exhausted their riot-control ammunition and left the town hall unprotected for approximately an hour. Municipal employees reportedly received death threats as rioters forced their way inside.

The destruction of Limoges Town Hall was among the many symbolic attacks during Saturday’s nationwide far-left unrest, which also saw masked militants storm the Paris headquarters of three conservative media outlets, CNews, Europe 1 and Le Journal du Dimanche. In Marseille, rioters vandalized city hall and toppled a bust of Marianne, the female personification of the French Republic, while other public buildings were attacked across the country.

The riots marked another escalation in weeks of violent protests that began in September over deteriorating school conditions in immigrant-heavy districts before being taken over by Antifa and far-left groups, including Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Unbowed (LFI) party. More than 2,400 people were arrested during the weekend unrest, while nearly 1,000 police officers and gendarmes were injured.

hungarianconservative

SPAIN: Transgender Police Officers File Discrimination Complaint After Being Charged “As Men” After Domestic Violence Arrests

A group of transgender police officers in Spain has filed a complaint against the Civil Guard in Ceuta, alleging they were subject to discrimination after being arrested and charged with a specific domestic violence-related crime that only males can commit. Five officers, all of whom are men who identify as women, claim they should not have been charged with “gender based violence” because they had changed their legal sex marker to “female.”

In 2004, Spain introduced the “Organic Law 1/2004 on Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender Violence” to address the nation’s skyrocketing rates of violence against women. The law established specialized courts, stronger criminal penalties in certain cases, and increased protections and support for female victims who were financially or physically vulnerable.

While general domestic violence legislation still exists and can be applied in all cases, the 2004 law introduced specific “gender based violence” charges that could only be applied in cases where a male had abused his female partner, or abused their children when the abuse was explicitly intended to harm or hurt the woman.

On October 18, a group of five transgender police officers in Ceuta filed a complaint against the Civil Guard alleging they had been the victims of discrimination after being arrested and charged with “gender based violence” after being ar abusing their female partners. According to The Objective, the men claim the charges did not apply in their case because they were legally female.

The main case in the complaint concerns a transgender police officer named David Osuna, who was arrested and charged with gender-based violence after being reported to police by his partner for an incident of alleged abuse involving their youngest child. Osuna claims that his case should have been treated as general domestic violence, specifically as a female abusing another female, because he had legally changed his sex and identified as a “woman.” As a result, the complaint claims that Osuna’s rights had been violated by the Civil Guard treating him and charging him as a male.

The complaint requests an investigation into potential criminal or disciplinary liability on the part of the charging officers involved, as well as clarification of the criteria applied when a person under investigation is legally registered as female.

Osuna, along with the other trans-identified male police officers involves in the complaint, are members of the Non-Normative Trans Police Union, or Trans No Normativos (TNN). The organization predominantly consists of officers with “traditionally masculine appearances and male names” who identify as “women” and have changed their legal sex marker to “female.” Most of the men involved identify as “lesbians.”

Non-Normative Trans Police Union Representatives.

Some trans rights activist groups have condemned TNN as a “fraudulent” trans group, and asserted that they are simply males attempting to exploit Spain’s Trans Law (Ley Trans). The law, passed on February 16, 2024, granted anyone over the age of 16 the right to change the gender reflected on their official documents without any social or medical proof of transitioning. While women’s rights advocates expressed concern with the result the law would have on males being given access to women’s spaces, including domestic violence shelters and prisons, the law went into effect on May 2 of that year.

However, TNN spokesperson Daniel Gallardo has maintained that they are not committing fraud and that criticism of the organization constitutes “transphobia” or “trans-exclusionary hatred.”

Despite having previously championed the law, the FELGTBI+, a Spanish LGBT+ activist organization, has reportedly asked the Public Prosecutor’s Office to take action against TNN and its members for allegedly “pretending to be trans in a grotesque manner.” However, the group did not specify what laws TNN had broken or whether any revisions to the Trans Law were required to prevent these alleged cases of “trans fraud.”

Since the law went into effect, there have been multiple reported cases involving violent men seeking lower criminal penalties after changing their legal sex marker.

As reported by Reduxx in 2022, a man in Spain who physically abused his female partner for refusing to participate in his sexual fetishes managed to avoid charges of gender-based violence by legally changing his identification to “female” and adopting a woman’s name. Because the gender-based violence law did not apply, he was not removed from the home and the victim was unable to secure safe housing.

In another case from 2024, a former police officer in San Sebastián who hastily changed his legal sex was charged “as a woman” after attempting to murder his wife and two daughters.

In other cases branded “trans fraud” by trans activists, male civil servants have reportedly changed their legal sex marker in order to access benefits reserved for female workers or mothers. Some of these men are reportedly associated with TNN.

As previously reported by Reduxx, a 35-year-old Army corporal in Ceuta changed his legal sex to “female” after deciding he identified as an “intersex bigender” person. Roberto Perdigones says he first discovered that changing his registered sex would afford him significant professional and financial benefits after reading an update in the National Police Exam syllabus with a list of “possible” gender identities one may have. Perdigones found a gender description he felt he matched, so pursued the change.

After changing his legal sex, Perdigones qualified for a mother’s pension as he was reclassified as a “woman” with a child.

“By changing my sex, as I have been informed, my pension has gone up. Because women receive more in retirement pensions to compensate for the inequality. In addition, I get 15% more because I have a child,” he boasted to local media.

The region of Ceuta, an autonomous Spanish territory located on the coast of Morocco, has experienced a particularly disproportionate surge of male civil servants changing their legal gender marker to “female.”

Ceuta has a population of just 85,000 inhabitants, 4,500 of whom are members of the Security Forces and the military. While in other parts of Spain, judges reserve the right to deny a change of legal sex when they conclude that the applicant is acting with “spurious intent,” Ceuta is an autonomous area that does not have such regulations.

Judges in Ceuta who deny legal sex changes could be charged with criminal prevarication. Many believe the combination of a large military male population and little-to-no repercussions for pursuing a gender change, even just to obtain employment benefits, have resulted in the phenomenon exploding in the small region.

reduxx

Rioters in France desecrate statues of St. Joan of Arc during violent weekend

Résistance Républicaine

An unidentified rioter veiled the head of a statue of St. Joan of Arc near the city center of Toulouse, appearing to mimic a hijab, along with a Palestinian flag, while video from Paris shows vandals climbing and putting political stickers on a statue of the patroness of France as violence raged across the country over the weekend.

Images posted across social media from Toulouse show an unidentified masked man, who appears to be African, standing on the bronze statue located on Place Jeanne d’Arc after placing a yellow vest on the saint’s head in the shape of a hijab and the Palestinian flag on the statue’s side. Separate video from Paris shows another unidentified reportedly foreign rioter being cheered on by a mob after climbing on and placing political stickers on the statue of the country’s patron saint in the Place des Pyramides.

Video from Saturday evening in Toulouse shows a courageous yet to be identified young man removing the yellow vest and flag from the statue.

Several X users denounced the defiling of the St. Joan of Arc statues and called for the country’s Christian heritage to be respected. Some also noted that this is the perfect illustration of the country’s collapse.

Over the weekend, mass riots broke out across France, known as the “eldest daughter of the Church,” purportedly in protest over the state of schools and the cost of living, with an estimated 550,000 people taking to the streets, with many breaking into and looting stores and businesses, as well as setting historic buildings and other property ablaze, per The Guardian. As of this writing, over 1,800 have been arrested.

Even France’s leftist president, Emmanuel Macron, felt compelled to declare via X that there is “no room for violence in our republic” and vowed that all responsible would be prosecuted.

France has seen a massive uptick in violence in recent years. Indeed, earlier this month, initially peaceful student protests quickly turned into chaos as young people set fires, injured teachers, and torched cars, resulting in 400 schools being closed across the country.

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Everywhere Is a Few Million Muslims Away From Becoming Israel

“Europe will realize that, in order to survive, it will have to become Israel, because its enemies already see it as Israel.”
Riposte Laique

“We will all soon know what it feels like to be Jewish. In France, they already do,” Maarten Boudry, a European Belgian philosophy professor, posted on Twitter. “Did you really think that if you fed the crocodile enough Jewish flesh, it would eventually be satiated? All you have done is embolden the monster and whet its appetite. So you were worried about ‘colonization’? Look around. The only thing being colonized here are our own Western cities. The Palestinian flag has become a victory banner, proudly waved amid the ruins of looted and vandalized historic buildings—a symbol of hatred for our civilization and everything it stands for. It never ends with the Jews.”

Why is the PLO flag being waved everywhere? Because it represents a fusion of Islam and Marxist revolutions. And because those waving it intend to reduce the country they’re waving it to, to another Israel, a beleaguered ‘colonial’ outpost, under siege and waiting to fall to the mobs.

“Soon Europe will realize that, in order to survive, it will have to become Israel, because its enemies already see it as Israel. But when that happens, the continent that stabbed Israel in the back for defending itself will defend itself in ways far less moral than Israel ever did,” Dan Burmawi, a Jordanian Muslim who converted to Christianity, posted.

Sadly there’s no real sign of that.

The whole point of demonizing Israel is to also demonize self-defense against Islam. Pick a target, polarize it, freeze it is also a good trick for international affairs. No one wants to be Israel and so the mobs get to burn down Paris.

Despite the propaganda, Israel has been crippled enough that it hardly defends itself. Even after Oct 7, its soldiers fought with their hands tied behind their backs, just like ours. Israel demolished blocks of buildings to avoid having to fight door to door and reduce civilian casualties. Drone videos of those same demolished blocks are used to establish the lie of genocide.

Genocide, like all Islamic and Marxist accusations, isn’t actually a lie, it’s a projection and an inversion, genocide is what they intend to do to us.

Accusing us of genocide stops us from resisting their genocide.

Everywhere is a few million Muslims away from becoming Israel. Most places try to desperately live in peace with their murderers. When the violence becomes too intense, they cling to the hope of co-existence, to the conviction that the people killing them are a tiny minority, and when they realize that the minority is the majority, they justify it because of how we have oppressed them.

Israelis don’t quite know what it feels like to be Jewish. Mostly because the tiny country is geographically isolated from the online and offline insanity that American and European Jews have to endure.

The rest of us will either learn to be Israel or, as Boudry put it, become ‘Jewish’, not spiritually, but much as the Christians of the Middle East were subjugated into becoming Jewish, a despised weak minority at the mercy of a cruel Muslim majority.

We’ll all get to have our own Holocaust. And the post-colonialist Marxist professors will explain to us why we deserve it just before they too get put down.

I don’t know that we need to become Israel. Americans could become the America of 1926 which would never have tolerated any of this. Europeans have their own models. As with so much else, we don’t have to live like this, we’ve been shamed, lied to and twisted into accepting this horror as the right side of history. It’s a foul dream. And if we don’t wake up from it, we will have no future.

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Britain’s welfare loophole for polygamous households exposes the fundamental failure of multiculturalism

Providing further evidence that modern-day England has not necessarily been enriched by ethnic, cultural and religious diversity, welfare assistance is reportedly being provided to polygamous households.

Under Section 57 of the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, bigamy is a criminal offence in England.

Indeed, contracting a multi-spouse or bigamous marriage locally violates statutory law under this Act, carrying a potential prison sentence of up to seven years.

In addition to this, under the 1973 Matrimonial Causes Act, marriages performed must be monogamous – entering a polygamous marriage is illegal and courts can treat such domestic unions as void.

However, there is a “loophole” – the UK may legally recognise a polygamous marriage that took place abroad if all parties involved were domiciled in a country where polygamy was permitted at the time of the marriage.

While strictly regulated by law (often limiting men to four wives in accordance with sharia and requiring proof of equal financial and emotional support), polygamy is legal in many Muslim-majority countries.

This includes prominent migrant countries of origin in modern Britain, such as Pakistan and Bangladesh.

There is also the matter of polygamy being facilitated on British soil through private religious ceremonies – such as the nikkah (a formal Islamic marriage ceremony and contract that legally unites a couple under Sharia law).

Nikkah-only unions have no legal force under UK civil law, meaning that women involved in such arrangements do not benefit from automatic spousal rights in the event of relationship breakdown.

This risks nikkah-only unions in Britain being a powerful tool of patriarchal control.

Existing studies suggest that over 100,000 people living in the UK are part of religious-only, unregistered unions – with most mosques not demanding civil registration as a prerequisite for orchestrating a nikkah in Britain.

The estimated scale of unregistered marriages in the UK – and the potential for this to facilitate the practice of polygamy – is a fundamental failure of multiculturalism and integration.

In accordance with the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act and the 1973 Matrimonial Causes Act, polygamous households simply should not exist in Britain – never mind be the beneficiaries of cash top-ups provided by the welfare state.

It is scandalous that the welfare system appears to be rewarding damaging religio-cultural practices which are illegal in the country.

Moving forward, the UK should not recognise any polygamous marriage – even if it took place in a country where it is legal for a man to have more than one wife.

If a prospective male migrant wants to resettle in the UK but has a history of practising polygamy in his country of origin, he should not be granted entry.

Also, while Britain should take pride in its rich tradition of religious freedom, this should not be exploited.

The British state should require mosques to require couples to provide proof of civil registration before performing their nikkah.

If Islamic institutions in Britain are found to be facilitating polygamous marriages through private religious ceremonies, they should be punished – with one option, if available, being the revocation of their charitable status.

This will promote integration by underscoring the value of civil marriage and empower women through automatic matrimonial rights under UK law.

Having grown in popularity, Muslim matrimonial apps/matchmaking services should be more strictly regulated by the British state – discouraged from offering men domiciled in the UK the option to express their intention to practice polygamy.

It is time for the British state to draw a firm line in the sand – bigamy and polygamous marriages should have no place in Britain.

gbnews

BBC Claims French Riots Were ‘Mostly Peaceful’ While Showing Country on Fire

Riposte Laique

In an apparent attempt at a CNN impression, the BBC said the riots that swept France over the weekend were “mostly peaceful”.

Social media users were quick to mock the British public broadcaster for “doing the thing” after a report from Paris correspondent and former professional rugby player, James Waterhouse, said in a televised report that the supposed protests over education and cost of living concerns were “mostly peaceful” as footage of rioters setting cars on fire and attacking police played in the background.

Waterhouse claimed that the protests were hijacked by an “opportunistic minority who came in and sought to rob and cause carnage”.

{YouTube CC-BY 4.0}

However, the French government largely contradicted this account, with Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez saying on Saturday evening that the violence started “right from the beginning” of the demonstrations, unlike other protests where opportunists typically wait until the end to engage in violence.

The riots saw at least 2,400 people arrested, over 1,000 police and firefighters injured, the mass looting of more than 3,000 businesses, and arson attacks on government buildings, including the fire that largely destroyed the historic 143-year-old City Hall in Limoges.

The seeming attempt to downplay the destruction by the BBC drew comparisons to an infamous 2020 report from CNN, in which a correspondent standing in front of a building set ablaze by Black Lives Matter rioters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was captioned with the chyron: “Fiery But Mostly Peaceful Protests After Police Shooting.”

Commenting on the public broadcaster’s report, Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice said: “The BBC is broken. Calling the riots in France ‘mostly peaceful’ tells you everything you need to know. Reform will scrap the TV licence fee.”

Not to be outdone, the BBC’s primary private competitor, Sky News, seemingly sought to tie the riots to so-called “far-right” activists abroad posting clips of the mayhem online.

In a report published on Sunday, Sky’s Tom Cheshire said: “A lot of these protests are taking place in multicultural cities. This is a broad alliance across the left, united especially by economic discontent. That, in turn, is amplified online by far-right activists like Tommy Robinson.

“These are French protests, but they want to turn this into a European, even a civilizational issue. Just as we see the far-left black co-opting protests started by students, the far right has the wider tactic of using shocking scenes to amplify division by making immigration the sole focus.”

In a report published on Sunday, Sky’s Tom Cheshire said: “A lot of these protests are taking place in multicultural cities. This is a broad alliance across the left, united especially by economic discontent. That, in turn, is amplified online by far-right activists like Tommy Robinson.

“These are French protests, but they want to turn this into a European, even a civilizational issue. Just as we see the far-left black co-opting protests started by students, the far right has the wider tactic of using shocking scenes to amplify division by making immigration the sole focus.”

{YouTube CC-BY 4.0}

While some, including President Emmanuel Macron, have attempted to draw a distinction between supposed peaceful protesters and the rioters, others have said that they should not be seen as separate, arguing that they are two sides of the same coin.

French Member of European Parliament Marion Maréchal told broadcaster BFMTV that she now equates “peaceful protesters” with “rioters”, “because they marched behind [LFI presidential candidate] Jean-Luc Mélenchon, and because he has never condemned this violence and encourages it.”

Maréchal said that she refuses to acknowledge the legitimacy of the protest, which was claimed to be about educational funding or the cost of living, but which prominently featured Antifa slogans or ACAB (All Cops Are Bastards).

She said that to the far-left, violence is not “collateral damage” but rather a feature of the “struggle”, saying: “It’s doctrinal, when Jean-Luc Mélenchon himself says that everything must be confrontational, when [LFI mayor of Saint-Denis] Bally Bagayoko says that violence can be legitimate.”

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France: Arab and Black youths make throat-slitting gesture while Spanish journalist reports on French riots

A Spanish public television correspondent was forced to cut short a live report from the French capital Saturday night after several Arab and Black men approached her and made threatening gestures, including one simulating a throat-slitting motion, as nationwide protests turned violent, stores were looted, and historic buildings burned to the ground.

The female TVE journalist, wearing a protective helmet and holding a microphone bearing the network’s logo, was reporting from a Paris street on official figures when the Arab and Black men appeared behind her in video of the broadcast.

During the broadcast, she stated: “According to figures just released by the Minister of the Interior, some 550,000 people have taken to the streets across France and around 400 people have been arrested.” 

Then, the youths crowded the screen with one Black male raising his arms and drawing a finger across his throat towards the camera.  He also gave the middle finger and made shooting motions.

The correspondent continued briefly, noting fires nearby, firefighters responding and the difficulty of maintaining the connection amid the disorder, before the live feed was interrupted.

The episode occurred during a day of demonstrations that began weeks earlier as student protests devolved into mass rioting with thousands of arrests, numerous schools set on fire in arson attacks, and even over 60 teachers and school staff suffering injuries.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez put the nationwide turnout at about 550,000, including 110,000 in Paris. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said more than 1,200 people were detained and condemned the “unacceptable levels of violence.” Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire later said entire streets had been devastated.

Violence included clashes with riot police using tear gas and water cannons, looting, and arson. The city hall in Limoges was set ablaze, with its roof collapsing in video footage; similar attacks or defacement targeted buildings in Marseille and Lyon. Authorities reported dozens of injured officers.

TVE had not issued a detailed public statement on the specific interruption in available reports as of early Sunday. The network’s correspondent was among those working amid the disorder that continued into the night.

rmx

State funding for Spanish unions nearly quadruples as membership falls to record low

thegatewaypundit

Direct state subsidies to Spain’s major trade union federations have multiplied nearly fourfold under Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, even as trade union membership nationwide falls to historic lows, according to data from the Finance Ministry reported by Spanish daily ABC.

Annual direct allocations to the country’s two largest union organisations, the General Workers’ Union (UGT) and the Workers’ Commissions (CCOO), have risen from €8.8 million under the previous government of Mariano Rajoy to €32 million now.

That rise came in stages. The Ministry of Labour, run by Yolanda Díaz since January 2020, lifted the line to €13.88 million in 2021 and held it at €17 million between 2022 and 2024, before awarding €32 million for 2025, a figure carried over into the 2026 allocation.

Between 2018 and 2025, total public funds allocated to both federations, alongside their territorial branches and linked foundations, exceeded €569 million.

Overall public funding to the two major unions grew by 34 per cent during this period, rising from €69.6 million in 2018 to €93.7 million in 2025.

In addition to millions of direct (extra) cash subsidies, UGT and CCOO currently enjoy the free use of 58 State-owned buildings (33 assigned to CCOO and 25 to UGT) under the 1986 Accumulated Union Assets Act, which handed the property of the Franco-era vertical syndicate to the organisations that replaced it.

The real estate portfolio, covering more than 22,800 square metres, carries an estimated market value exceeding €200 million.

The Spanish state covers the associated property taxes known as IBI, amounting to at least €700,000 annually, as well as capital expenditure.

In 2021, the Ministry of Labour allocated €100 million in European recovery funds toward energy**-**efficiency renovations across 42 union headquarters.

The surge in financial backing contrasts with union membership trends across Spain.

According to figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), union density in Spain fell to 12.5 per cent of salaried employees in 2023, down from 16.7 per cent in 2012, ABC reported.

This places Spanish union representation below the EU average and well behind European counterparts such as Italy (30 per cent) and Sweden (62.3 per cent).

Membership is not the only measure of the federations’ reach. Agreements they sign are extended by law across entire sectors, leaving collective bargaining coverage in Spain close to 80 per cent of employees, among the highest in the OECD.

The financial reliance of UGT and CCOO on the state has fuelled ongoing debate in Madrid regarding their political independence.

Opponents point to the close alignment between union leadership and the ruling coalition, noting that neither federation called a general strike between November 14, 2012 and this year.

The funding for the two federations comes on top of the corruption allegations and investigations that have been plaguing the Sánchez government since 2024.

Now, for the first time in 14 years, UGT and CCOO have called a general strike for November 11, two days before campaigning opens for the general election Sánchez called on October 5 after losing a parliamentary vote on housing. Spaniards go to the polls on November 29.

The unions have framed the 24-hour stoppage around housing costs and pay, arguing that wages have risen by about 28 per cent over the past decade while purchase prices per square metre have climbed about 80 per cent and rents about 87 per cent.

The protest initiative was originally launched by smaller, grassroots labour and tenant organisations which have gained ground amid declining membership for traditional federations. The CGT has joined the call, with backing from the regional unions CIG, ELA and LAB and from the tenants’ organisation Sindicato de Inquilinas.

Three other federations, CSIF, USO and FETICO, have refused to take part, describing the action as political, and the employers’ confederation CEOE has questioned whether the demands are labour matters at all.

Under the previous government, the major unions were much more active. They called a general strike on March 29, 2012, barely three months after Rajoy took office, and a second on November 14 that year.

Unai Sordo, general secretary of CCOO, told Spanish radio station COPE on October 6 that the public money they received was “distributed among all organisations according to their representativeness and represent less than 10 per cent of the budget of CCOO”.

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