Genie Godula is pleased to welcome Damien Lecomte, Political Scientist and Researcher at Paris Panthéon Sorbonne University. France’s escalating unrest has exposed a profound contradiction in the state’s response: disproportionate force against peaceful demonstrators and an inability to contain widespread violence. As competing narratives threaten to overshadow legitimate grievances over education, public services and the cost of living, he warns that the “repressive response won’t make the social crisis disappear.” With presidential elections approaching, the struggle to restore order is becoming inseparable from a deeper contest over political legitimacy, public liberties and the future direction of French society.