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French riots being driven by 54 radical groups — including communists, free Palestine activists

By Anthony Blair

Published Oct. 19, 2026, 10:36 a.m. ET
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Violent riots that are pulling France apart are being coordinated with the help of dozens of far-left radical groups, including self-described communists and socialists, “Yellow Vests,” free Palestine activists and Islamic organizations, a new investigation has found.
Of the 54 organizations and movements identified as part of the nationwide protests that led to 2,500 arrests across France over the weekend, only 16 are student or youth-led groups, according to a Fox News Digital report.
That is despite the origin of the protests being about school conditions, and later about youth unemploymeny and the cost of living.

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Protesters clash with police near Place de la Republique as Paris unrest continued on Oct. 18.Zuma / SplashNews.com

Fox News found that the most concerning driver of the protests is an international coalition of 28 communist and socialist organizations that it dubbed “Chaos Inc.,” which has been trying to trigger coordinated labor strikes across 12 European countries.

Their message is being amplified by Tricontinental Ltd., a nonprofit funded by US-born Marxist tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham, who is based in Shanghai, Fox News found.
Other groups within Singham’s network that have also pushed relentless coverage of French unrest include CodePink and BreakThrough News, a New York-based left-wing media outlet that shared a montage of chaotic scenes across France featuring activists waving Palestine flags, police hitting protesters, and left-wing French politicians.
Singham ally Vijay Prashad, a Marxist who is executive director of Tricontinental Ltd., bragged on Saturday that the unrest in France was part of a broader wave of left-wing protests spanning three continents.


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Radical far-left organizations have fueled the Paris protests, as rioters are looting stores and starting fires.
Bloomberg via Getty Images“Paris-New Delhi-Buenos Aires.
Let fury have the hour, anger can be power,” Prashad wrote on X, quoting a line by British punk band The Clash.
Singham’s wife, Jodie Evans, co-founder of Code Pink, also invoked other protests worldwide as she urged Americans to take to the streets in a recent interview with BreakThrough News.
“I want people to look at France, Spain, and India,” she said.


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A Paris protester watches a fire burn while wrapped in a communist flag.Bloomberg via Getty Images

Among the youth groups involved are communists and a Muslim student association, the investigation found.
The remaining 38 groups include adult-led communist organizations, labor unions, left-wing political parties, radical-left bodies, advocacy groups, and international propaganda outlets.
Those include the Gilets Jaunes, or “Yellow Vests,” a radical far-left group that also led protests with other organizations over the weekend, and the far-left socialist political party La France Insoumise, or France Unbowed.


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A graffiti reading “Riot” is seen on a map of Paris.AFP via Getty Images

Other radical groups include Extinction Rebellion, the international environmental activist movement; anti-Israel movement Palestine Emergency; and farmer labor unions.
From the outset, far-left socialist and communist groups reportedly helped organize and amplify the unrest, which began in September at a school in the Paris suburb of Creteil following a nationwide teachers’ strike.
By early October, major student unions, joined by France’s notoriously militant labor unions, launched coordinated actions to shut hundreds of schools, using the original protest to mobilize a broader anti-capitalist agenda.


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Paris police officers wear riot gear during the smoke-filled demonstration.Bloomberg via Getty Images


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Protesters destroyed the windows of several businesses, including the Lacoste store in Paris.REUTERS


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A woman looks through the window of her bar at fires lit by protesters in the street in Paris.Jeanne Accorsini/SIPA/Shutterstock

France has a 35-hour work week, five weeks of paid vacation for all workers, and devotes more than half its economy to public welfare spending.

But none of that has saved France and the government of President Emmanuel Macron from the country’s worst unrest in years — with thousands of stores raided and historic buildings, including Limoges City Hall, torched by arsonists.

Violent groups looted luxury stores as protesters called for a new round of demonstrations this weekend, when the New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers are due to face off at the Stade de France in Paris.
Clashes have also broken out in neighboring Italy, while there was further unrest in Spain and Portugal.

France's 'Chaos Inc' made up of 54 rebellious groups amid riots