Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Inside the Paris march that turned into a riot

00:00:00.000 You're fighting for freedom! 0.98

00:00:02.920 Shame on you, you censorious bug!

00:00:14.540 Say, folks, on tonight's Ezra Levent show, the big boss man himself, Ezra,

00:00:19.320 he travels to France to interview our very own Alexa Lavoie on the mean streets of Paris.

00:00:26.540 It is a must-watch interview. Incredible.

00:00:30.680 Also, don't forget our live stream coverage of the Ontario municipal elections.

00:00:37.880 I'll be hosting that show along with my beloved co-host Sue Ann Levy, formerly of the Toronto Sun, where she covered municipal politics like a pit bull.

00:00:48.020 She knows where the skeletons are buried, and we have a slew of guests.

00:00:53.160 They're running all over Ontario, from Pickering to Toronto to Wayne Fleet.

00:00:57.520 We've got Karima Saad, Lisa Robinson, Rick Nichols, Martin Ross, Scott Wilson.

00:01:04.800 I'm sure all of them, win, lose, or draw, will have something to say.

00:01:08.760 And we have some special guests as well.

00:01:10.900 Our very own Scarlet Grace, she'll be weighing in, as well as Harrison Faulkner. 0.64

00:01:16.180 That's the Juno News journalist.

00:01:19.800 And we have Tracy Wilson, communications director for the CCFR.

00:01:25.440 It's a jam-packed show.

00:01:27.340 We're going to bring you the coverage the mainstream media will not broadcast.

00:01:32.200 So don't you dare miss it.

00:01:33.880 Hi everybody, Ezra Levant here at La Place de la Republique.

00:01:46.000 It's an incredible monument in the heart of Paris.

00:01:49.380 And look at who's behind me, Alexa Lavoie and Guillaume Roy, our very brave French language

00:01:54.880 team that was right in the heart of the protest and indeed it turned into a riot last night

00:02:00.020 here in Paris.

00:02:01.020 We were just standing here filming, and someone came up to us and said, oh, Rebel News, and he wanted to talk to us.

00:02:06.500 He was originally from Vietnam, and he said he felt that things were taking a dark turn here in France towards authoritarianism and communism.

00:02:16.360 And he was saying that, in his view, these rioters are quite likely funded by outside interests, whether they're countries or, you know, Antifa activists.

00:02:26.940 I think he's right.

00:02:27.580 anyhow it's a little anecdote fun to bump into someone who likes rebel here in paris the monument

00:02:33.440 is so gorgeous but i don't know if you can see it's been smashed it's been smashed by riders

00:02:40.200 taking on this building itself and over there behind me all those stores boarded up because

00:02:47.460 the riders smashed there now that was a couple weeks ago that they came through this area you

00:02:51.780 can see down there they torch there it is they torch a a newspaper stand you can see on some of 0.99

00:02:59.480 the blogs back there it says a c a b which stands for all cops are bastards that was the rallying 0.98

00:03:05.880 cry of these folks alexa and i just spoke for about half an hour we're going to have a big 0.98

00:03:11.820 video and of course she was in the heart of the battle but she said she's worried that this

00:03:17.480 ongoing rioting will have a psychological effect on the country the same way I think that the George

00:03:23.700 Floyd riots did too. Remember the George Floyd riots were when Donald Trump was in power and I

00:03:29.680 think it was a psychological operation to say to people as long as Trump is in power you will have

00:03:35.120 this civil war. So best to get him out and I promise you things will calm down and I think

00:03:41.400 that that sounds like it's what's happening here in Paris also. You've got these rising populist

00:03:46.420 parties, like the Rassemblement Nationale, the parties that would shut down mass immigration. 0.55

00:03:53.420 And they're growing in popularity.

00:03:55.380 In fact, in some cases, they're in the lead in the polls.

00:03:58.820 You see this in other countries too, like Nigel Farage in the UK.

00:04:03.900 But if every week or every month there's another riot, maybe people will be scared to vote

00:04:10.680 for these right-wing parties.

00:04:12.240 because if the left-wing party say, I'm with the rioters, I mean, Jean-Luc Mélenchon,

00:04:16.920 the head of the far-left party, actually walked with the rioters yesterday. He's sort of

00:04:21.960 telegraphing to France. These are my people. These street gangs are my street gangs. I can

00:04:26.500 order them to put down their weapons. I can order them to stop destroying our beautiful monuments.

00:04:32.780 Vote for me. Vote for the hard left. Yes, I will continue to bring in mass immigration. Yes,

00:04:38.680 i will be defunding police and i'll be a man of the left but you'll have peace unlike those right

00:04:45.240 wing parties who will give you nothing but strife listen it worked in america in 2020 didn't it

00:04:51.080 all right i'm gonna go now but tune in to of course alexa and guillaume's reports they were

00:04:56.360 in the heart of the protest that turned into a riot and can you do me a favor it was very dangerous

00:05:01.800 last night we hired professional military grade security for alexa and guillaume and it cost us

00:05:08.440 thousands of euros to do it i'm not complaining i just need a bit of help can you go to france

00:05:13.000 on fire.com to see all of the coverage of our amazing team and frankly to help me cover the

00:05:19.960 cost of their security that's the only way we can do the work we do and they told me the security

00:05:25.000 was excellent i'm very pleased to hear it i want them to cover these stories let me put it another

00:05:28.840 way is there any other reporter here from canada at all and even if there were would they not just

00:05:34.680 be towing the government line that these are upset students because there's not enough textbooks in

00:05:39.400 school as opposed to what we really saw here which was mass riots of the domestic far left

00:05:45.640 and foreign marauders. Very interesting story, franceonfire.com.

00:06:00.360 Yeah, I really think it's decision time in France, and I'm worried that if they don't

00:06:06.840 get it right now, I don't know how long this country can stay on the path that is.

00:06:15.640 The biggest part was, at the end, the people who wanted to stay there, they were the most 1.00

00:06:24.820 motivated one to go and to destroy things, was mainly, like, people from immigrant backgrounds. 1.00

00:06:34.480 Alexa, we're standing in front of the Place de la République monument. It's a beautiful monument, 1.00

00:06:40.440 But I can see it smashed, that the rioters smashed the marble seats there, and they spray-painted ACAB, All Cops Are Bastards. 0.94

00:06:51.740 They burnt that newsstand there.

00:06:54.280 This was the place of a riot a few weeks ago, and then last night there was a massive demonstration.

00:07:01.060 Tell us about it. You were right in the middle of it.

00:07:03.340 Yeah, so this is just an example of the chaos that took place on October 17, where the so-called student protests took place.

00:07:14.740 And you can see they were destroying the public spaces in order to take the rock to throw to the police and to throw at businesses.

00:07:23.380 It's why now you are seeing that all the businesses around La Place de la République have been vandalized, looted, and the window had been smashed.

00:07:34.480 And can you believe that the man was saying that the window is about this thick?

00:07:39.820 And so it's about $4,000 or $5,000 per window to repair.

00:07:45.920 I feel very sorry for all the businesses around.

00:07:49.260 But last night, what we saw, so they banned all the protests in France, like across France.

00:07:58.580 Most of the protests have been banned.

00:08:01.340 One of the protests was supposed to take place at Bastille.

00:08:05.100 And that place was banned the night before the protests.

00:08:09.360 So they kind of like forced all the protesters to go to Porte d'Italie.

00:08:16.300 And Porte d'Italie is in the working class area where mainly poor area, small businesses.

00:08:26.120 So they knew that the protesters would not attack those small businesses.

00:08:31.680 They mainly go after the big multinational like Sephora or Nike's or other like big shops like that.

00:08:41.840 So they were marching.

00:08:43.100 Seriously, it's the first time I saw as big as that.

00:08:48.600 The crowd was like...

00:08:49.920 So you were in the middle of it?

00:08:51.080 I was in the middle of it.

00:08:52.420 And we had the chance to speak with some of them, asking them about what happened on October 17.

00:08:59.760 And also, we talked about if what happened will influence the vote,

00:09:06.160 and if they have any concern that the national rally will win the presidential election.

00:09:12.540 right-wing anti-immigration party exactly and a lot of them had like a illogical fear of this party

00:09:21.820 win and they called them the enemy but when you call someone an enemy you want to destroy the

00:09:29.180 enemy it's not just like a party that is that you are warning against so anyway we had like a nice

00:09:36.300 conversation with them and we marched for about three hours and no police was visible and I think

00:09:45.500 that was in order to not provoke a reaction a tense reaction they didn't want like them to

00:09:53.980 to do what we saw on October 17 where literally the confrontation started really early and we

00:10:02.680 that people started to separate in gangs and attacking shops so we only saw really

00:10:11.400 the police towards the end when we arrived towards the end we saw the crowd changing

00:10:20.040 so most of the people were mainly peaceful during the protest same if they were chanting akab

00:10:26.200 Yeah, they were chanting, that was their chant, which is funny because that's an English acronym, 1.00

00:10:37.240 all cops are bastards. It doesn't even, that's not even the French translation, 0.99

00:10:41.240 that's just sort of a standard Antifa slogan, isn't it?

00:10:44.200 Yes, and what I find really shocking is like the leader of the far-left party,

00:10:49.800 who might have a chance to win for the next election,

00:10:53.160 Jean-Luc Mélenchon, was marching with them, with all them chanting a cab, a really anus chant towards the police.

00:11:04.700 So this is the man who could be president, theoretically. He's very far left, isn't he?

00:11:09.040 He's really far left.

00:11:10.320 And he's signaling that he's with the rioters.

00:11:12.620 And it's not the first time that he's calling for violence.

00:11:15.560 And one of his elected, that is Balibagayoko, is the mayor of Saint-Denis, who literally

00:11:25.920 say on TV that the violence can be legitimate.

00:11:33.500 So same after the October 17th, he still stand by his words that the violence can be legitimate.

00:11:42.500 And this is a mayor from LFI, de la France Insoumise, the party of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

00:11:49.800 So anyway, come back to what happened yesterday.

00:11:53.820 So we saw that the crowd was changing, people wearing all black with casks, masks. 1.00

00:12:03.220 That's the black block. It's to hide their identity. 1.00

00:12:05.720 Yes. A lot of people were wearing masks in that march.

00:12:10.020 And I asked them, why are you wearing a mask?

00:12:13.220 And mainly it was for hiding their identity from the police.

00:12:17.160 And I said, well, if you are not doing anything criminal,

00:12:20.560 why do you need to wear a mask then?

00:12:24.160 And they couldn't really respond.

00:12:28.680 But towards the end, we arrived at La Porte de Vincennes.

00:12:34.780 And it's kind of like a place where there is only four

00:12:39.020 way to live the area, three of the way were blocked by police in order to concentrate the

00:12:45.700 crowd, in order to be able to push them and then make them live by the metro station.

00:12:54.140 But it's when everything started to be aggressive.

00:13:00.640 Let me stop you for one second.

00:13:02.760 So we hired security for you.

00:13:06.720 We were in Canada.

00:13:07.980 We had to find a firm in France.

00:13:11.180 We checked a few out.

00:13:13.020 The firm that we chose in the end, I just want you to tell our viewers,

00:13:16.260 because we're crowdfunding, it costs thousands of euros,

00:13:20.280 but we knew that if we were sending you into a kind of war zone,

00:13:24.500 that you and Guillaume, our videographer,

00:13:27.340 at least each of you should have at least one bodyguard.

00:13:31.380 How were they like? Just tell our viewers.

00:13:33.540 They were amazing.

00:13:34.500 So the firm that we hired, mainly former military, and they were prepared.

00:13:44.340 They had their casks and their masks, and they were prepared for the war zone.

00:13:50.520 So they were serious guys.

00:13:52.840 And at one point when the police started using the water cannon against, I don't know,

00:13:59.800 I would not call them protesters, because at the end it was rioters.

00:14:04.500 They were aggressive people, thugs I would say, and he was with me and I lost Guillaume

00:14:13.940 that was with the other security guard and I was kind of, I was feeling safe for him because I knew

00:14:21.460 he was in good hand. Did you have any problems? Were your security close by to

00:14:28.660 to kind of signal the people, don't try anything?

00:14:31.840 Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

00:14:32.860 And he knew where I needed to put myself

00:14:36.300 for not being in the crossfire

00:14:38.100 in between the police and the protesters.

00:14:41.940 And he was always watching my back,

00:14:44.800 watching that nobody's attacking me

00:14:46.840 or throwing something at me.

00:14:48.440 I would say, at one point, I received a mortar

00:14:52.520 straight at my feet.

00:14:54.460 And I had, like, two...

00:14:55.680 That was like a tear gas canister or something?

00:14:58.280 No, it's something that explodes.

00:14:59.560 Oh, really?

00:15:00.320 And I screamed so loud.

00:15:03.400 You will see, like, in most of my shots, I screamed because it's just like it was exploding everywhere.

00:15:09.860 Wow.

00:15:10.360 Protesters were using fireworks.

00:15:12.380 So it was shot by the rioters?

00:15:14.540 Yes.

00:15:14.940 Holy cow.

00:15:15.840 They were shooting fireworks.

00:15:17.960 At the police.

00:15:19.060 Huh.

00:15:19.560 I was, I never saw something like this.

00:15:22.140 Yeah, that's incredible.

00:15:23.480 So the people you were walking with, you mentioned some of them were dressed in what Antifa calls the black block.

00:15:29.100 And it's to make them indistinguishable from each other, to hide their face so that if it's security cameras, they can't identify them.

00:15:38.320 Who were these people?

00:15:39.900 Were they students?

00:15:41.100 Were they young?

00:15:41.940 Did they seem like they were professional protesters who do this every week?

00:15:45.880 Were they foreign nationals or were they French people?

00:15:49.440 Who was it?

00:15:50.840 you say it was a huge rally who was there and this is a thing and this is facts okay don't be

00:15:59.200 mad at me i'm just related what i saw but during the big march we saw mainly a mix of

00:16:07.300 immigrant immigrant background uh we saw a lot of far left white french people but towards the end

00:16:17.300 it changed. The people who really wanted a confrontation with the police, and they were

00:16:22.880 prepared, they had their helmet, they had like their mask, they were prepared for the war, 0.99

00:16:29.120 was mainly over-represented of immigrant background. And I saw it, the way they were 0.70

00:16:36.720 talking, the expression they were using, wallah, weish, mainly Maghreb.

00:16:42.000 So that's Northern Africa, like Algeria, maybe Morocco, places like that, Tunisia? 0.92

00:16:47.300 But I don't deny that they were also like a far-left French

00:16:50.740 people, obviously. 0.95

00:16:51.740 It's a great-

00:16:52.640 But you said a mixed change.

00:16:53.640 It's a green-red alliance.

00:16:54.740 We saw it.

00:16:55.640 Yeah.

00:16:56.640 But the biggest part was, at the end,

00:17:00.240 the people who wanted to stay there,

00:17:02.440 they were the most motivated one to go and to destroy things, 1.00

00:17:08.860 was mainly like people from immigrant backgrounds. 1.00

00:17:17.300 now you're using the phrase from immigrant backgrounds i spoke to a guy last night

00:17:32.540 who his parents came from algeria he says he was born here but so he speaks french but he still

00:17:40.040 sort of regards himself as algerian even though he's here he said it's sort of half and half

00:17:44.700 Were the people you were talking to, were they born in France or were many of them new immigrants themselves or were they children of migrants?

00:17:53.480 And the reason I ask is because we sort of hope that people come to a country and assimilate, integrate, learn the local customs and and over the generations become French.

00:18:04.780 So I want to know, were the people from immigrant backgrounds, were they immigrants themselves?

00:18:10.740 Or did it look like they were born in France and grew up, but still regarded themselves as outsiders?

00:18:16.620 I think when the march was in action, I spoke with one of them that was actually a second generation of immigrant.

00:18:29.200 immigrant and he say that he feels sorry because he is against breaking and vandalism and he

00:18:38.020 actually agreed that most of the people who actually looted break into shops were mainly

00:18:45.800 from his place of origin. Where was he from? Algeria? If I remember it was Algeria but he

00:18:56.240 They say, like, I feel sorry because it makes us look bad.

00:18:59.960 And yes, I think here in France, it's mainly second generation of immigrants.

00:19:06.920 Is that interesting?

00:19:08.180 Well, how would you say this is impacting not the people immediately in the city,

00:19:15.280 but the French political opinions?

00:19:19.220 Do you think this is polarizing it more?

00:19:22.080 So some people love the protests and they're going to vote for Mellenchamp?

00:19:26.240 and then others will vote for the Rassemblement Nationale,

00:19:30.160 if I'm saying that right.

00:19:31.320 So it's sort of forcing the question.

00:19:34.680 Like, from what I...

00:19:36.960 I don't really speak French very well,

00:19:39.760 so my sources are probably wrong,

00:19:42.140 but it looks like the right, the right-wing parties,

00:19:46.080 like Eric Zemmour, he's just fully apoplectic by what he sees.

00:19:51.240 What's the rest of France thinking about all this?

00:19:57.440 The thing is, you need to separate Paris from the rest of France.

00:20:01.300 Paris have always been more lefty.

00:20:04.360 They have a big proportion of Antifa, mixed with also a lot of students.

00:20:11.100 There is a lot here.

00:20:12.640 And I think it's the largest Antifa crown that you can find in the city.

00:20:16.920 It's in Paris.

00:20:17.720 There is also the fact that the Rassemblement National,

00:20:22.820 that is Marine Le Pen, is growing, but not in Paris.

00:20:26.820 It's growing outside of Paris, in small towns

00:20:30.060 where immigration is beginning to be a problem.

00:20:34.680 Like, look at Lyon.

00:20:36.280 Lyon never had any kind of problem, very peaceful places.

00:20:40.480 On October 17, it was one of the worst places you could be.

00:20:45.580 And now you are seeing the Rassemblement National gaining popularity.

00:20:50.480 And I think now they are really, really high in the poll.

00:20:54.820 It's because of what we are seeing.

00:20:56.640 But I've been told by some of the people who will vote Rassemblement National, the national rally,

00:21:04.140 that they are scared about the presidential election.

00:21:07.880 Why?

00:21:08.620 Because it will be May 2nd.

00:21:12.780 And May 1st is May Day.

00:21:14.980 and they think that's traditionally a communist socialist celebration day and they think that on

00:21:20.940 may day you will see what we saw on october 17 total riots total mayhem civil war way bigger

00:21:33.340 and that will influence the people who will go vote on may 2nd they will be scared to vote for

00:21:39.840 national rally because they would be scared to see this happening often isn't that interesting

00:21:48.100 you know that's what they did to trump in 2020 they had the george floyd riots again and again

00:21:54.020 and they said this is happening on trump's watch they had a and antifa was key to that so you had

00:22:00.160 antifa and race activism using some of the same arguments you're referring to here and they just

00:22:06.780 had a summer of riots you might recall cnn said uh largely peaceful riots like it was crazy

00:22:13.520 but their message was this is happening on trump's watch if you want peace don't vote for trump it

00:22:20.500 was actually a very unusual it was sort of like a hostage situation wow and i think and you need to

00:22:29.680 We also understand how the system works here in France.

00:22:34.780 There is two rounds for the vote.

00:22:36.880 So the first round, you will see which area

00:22:40.720 the national rally can actually win.

00:22:44.000 So you will see a coalition to counter the vote

00:22:49.160 for the national rally, what we saw

00:22:52.000 during the legislative election.

00:22:54.140 And a lot of people think that it might happen again.

00:22:57.400 But if Jean-Luc Mélenchon wins, I don't know, I don't have any hope for France.

00:23:02.540 Yeah, I really think it's decision time in France.

00:23:06.920 And I'm worried that if they don't get it right now,

00:23:10.060 I don't know how long this country can stay on the path that is.

00:23:13.920 I think it's way worse than London.

00:23:15.840 I've been in London, but you are seeing people like patriots rising up peacefully

00:23:22.280 and say, hey, we have had enough.

00:23:25.480 I don't see that in France.

00:23:26.700 I don't see people rising up against what is happening.

00:23:31.240 Most of the French people are just like, either they are scared 0.98

00:23:34.860 or either they just lost this patriotic sentiment that it's your country. 1.00

00:23:40.960 Take it back.

00:23:42.380 Where you're going to go afterwards.

00:23:44.640 Quebec is too small. 0.99

00:23:45.760 You can't come all to Quebec, OK?

00:23:48.180 And Macron feels like some hollow shell.

00:23:51.360 Like, he's a man who feels to me like he is no, he's just, I don't know, like an empty vessel into which the latest global, like he feels so disconnected from reality.

00:24:04.040 I think I can compare him to Justin Trudeau at this point.

00:24:07.520 It's someone who is good looking, is just like talking a little bit at the camera.

00:24:13.560 He's elegant when he's speaking.

00:24:16.040 But the thing is, he's not able to manage anything.

00:24:19.800 Yeah, I don't even think he's the decider, frankly.

00:24:22.200 And just for example, I think it's, I don't remember what is his position, Nunez, I think it's the Ministry of Interior or something like that.

00:24:32.100 But after October 17, he say, you know, I'm resigning because we lost control on October 17.

00:24:40.500 And Macron say no.

00:24:42.080 He refused that Nunez step down.

00:24:45.860 And that is not a good signaling for the people and especially the businesses.

00:24:52.320 I know for a fact that in Lyon, some of the shops that were looted and destroyed, they would never reopen.

00:25:00.860 They say, we are closing down.

00:25:02.800 So what would happen to France if all the businesses are leaving the country?

00:25:08.500 Wow. Well, very interesting.

00:25:11.140 And I'm so glad that security was good and you said it was excellent.

00:25:14.900 If folks want to chip in, you know, I don't have the final bill from security, and I'm not complaining.

00:25:22.080 I just need help to cover it.

00:25:24.040 You can go to fransonfire.com and chip in there because we want to keep Alexa and Guillaume safe.

00:25:31.320 And it sounds like we achieved that goal.

00:25:33.380 And that's how we get the great journalism that they've been doing.

00:25:36.180 Very dangerous work, but you're very courageous.

00:25:38.660 Alexa and Guillaume, thank you so much for doing it.

00:25:40.880 Thank you so much for the opportunity.

00:25:42.300 And as I say, if we are not showing it, who will tell you the other side of the story?

00:25:48.080 Yeah, that's our motto, the other side of the story.

00:25:50.260 All right, everybody, go to France on Fire to keep following Alexa's reports.

Rebel News Podcast - October 26, 2026

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Inside the Paris march that turned into a riot

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