Chris Reynolds, a Nottingham Trent University professor of French and European studies, said French President Emmanuel Macron's latest address did little to answer the deeper grievances behind protests amid rising living costs.
Reynolds told France 24 that the speech conveyed a “sense of detachment” from demonstrators' concerns. He also identified young people's worries about their future as part of the discontent he said Macron had yet to address.
Reynolds cited the May 1968 protests and the Yellow Vest movement in discussing France's history of unrest.
He warned that violence could obscure the concerns of peaceful protesters, weaken public sympathy for them and affect debate before the presidential election.
