Protests in France, triggered by dissatisfaction with the state of the education system, rising living costs and social problems, spread to cities across the country on October 17, covering a wider geographical area. According to official figures, 550,000 people took part in demonstrations that day. Riots, fires and looting in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and other cities have highlighted the serious challenges facing Emmanuel Macron’s administration in maintaining public order and ensuring citizens’ safety.
These views are expressed in the Azerbaijani Parliament’s statement on mass protests in France and cases of human rights violations. The statement noted that particularly outrageous are the reports about minors having been subjected to police violence. Serious concerns are raised by reports of the use of batons, tear gas, rubber bullets and special explosive devices against schoolchildren, as well as reports of physical violence against children.
It is especially shocking that police violence has left a 15-year-old teenager without an arm in Lens and a 17-year-old girl with vision loss in one eye in Mulhouse. The protection of children's life and health is the state's immediate duty, and no need to ensure public order can justify the disproportionate use of force against children under any circumstances. These acts of violence should be investigated in an independent and transparent manner.
"The detention of thousands of people, including minors, during the mass protests, the restriction of the freedom of movement of peaceful demonstrators and the prohibition of assemblies in individual towns all give rise to serious concerns regarding respect for the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and the principle of proportionality. Approximately 2,400 people were detained in connection with the events of October 17 alone. Ensuring that citizens can exercise their right to peaceful protest is one of the French State's international obligations, and it is inadmissible to violate this right.
There are grave problems with maintaining public order and protecting fundamental rights in France's overseas territories as well. A curfew was imposed in several locations following the unrest, fires and assaults upon commercial establishments in Guadeloupe on the night of October 17-18. As regards New Caledonia, the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights of France stated in January 2026 that the fundamental rights of the Kanak population had deteriorated, that discrimination had deepened and that there were numerous accounts of excessive use of force by law enforcement agencies in recent years.
All these circumstances are indicative of the serious problems that Macron's regime faces in ensuring the rights and security of people living in the overseas territories, in particular representatives of indigenous peoples. The Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan considers that the current developments in France are not random violations of public order but indicators of a deep political and governance crisis within the government, as well as of the failure of the policy it pursues to respond to social discontent and ensure the security of citizens. Macron's regime, on the one hand, was unable to protect peaceful demonstrators, including children, from disproportionate police intervention, and, on the other hand, failed to defend citizens and their property from violence during the unrest.
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