Peru

Lima, October 18, 2026. The Peruvian press is following the French crisis through news agency dispatches and the prism of law and order. RPP Noticias reports on "burning buildings, looting, and violent clashes" and 1,800 detainees. The October 17 mobilization brought together between 550,000 and 800,000 people, according to the Ministry of the Interior and the organizers, including high school students, unions, retirees, and supporters of the yellow vests. RPP connects it to the anger that started at the end of September in the high schools of northern Paris, then to inflation, fuel prices, and a 54 billion euro budget adjustment plan.

The narrative emphasizes the damage. Andina mentions town halls set on fire in Limoges and damaged in Marseille and Lille, and stores looted in the center of Paris. The Minister of the Interior, Laurent Núñez, speaks of "several thousand far-left individuals" joined by "delinquents"; his provisional toll has risen to 1,800 and then 2,000 arrests, and to 500 and then 600 injured police officers, gendarmes, and firefighters. The Commerce Federation estimates the damage at "hundreds of millions of euros" and 1,500 vandalized stores. El Comercio quotes Parisians in front of burned-out bicycles: "We've never seen such violence."

The government's response is detailed. Macron promises that the perpetrators will be "pursued and punished". The Keeper of the Seals Gérald Darmanin calls for provisional detention. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu sees it as "a political maneuver that accepts violence" and chairs an interministerial crisis cell. Diario Correo also relays the mayors of Paris, Marseille, and Lyon, who demand a "precise diagnosis", and the leader of the ecologists Marine Tondelier, who calls for Núñez's resignation.

Peruvian media are putting the episode into a broader context: an unpopular Macron, six months before the presidential election, a government threatened by a motion of censure during the 2027 budget debate, and a planned tour of the Gulf due to the war against Iran. RPP announces Macron's televised address at 8 pm on Sunday, October 18. The provided articles do not report its content, nor the word "factious".