More than half a million people joined cost of living protests across France on a single day, a figure that has not been independently confirmed but that the Office of Continuity Planning has elected to treat as a turning point for civilisation. Disorder followed in cities across the country. Cars were burned, shop glass was broken, and in Limoges a historic town hall was set alight in what local authorities are treating as an apparent arson attack. Residents have described the incident as very upsetting. The Office has noted this and filed it under Residents, Feelings, Pending.
President Emmanuel Macron gave a national address calling for calm and order. Around 1,800 people have been arrested, although other reporting places the figure above one thousand. The Office does not regard this discrepancy as a problem. It regards it as evidence that the reform process has begun to generate its own paperwork.
The protests are not, in the Office’s assessment, a French matter. Democratic institutions across the continent have been notified that a sustained public demand for lower prices now exists in a G7 economy, and each is obliged to consider what that means for its own citizens and their grocery bills. Global markets have not yet responded. They are expected to be reformed.
Calls for revolutionary reformation have been heard from several quarters. The Office has neither endorsed nor ruled out these calls pending a second review. Citizens are advised that the existential overhaul of the nation is proceeding in accordance with established procedure, and that the Limoges town hall will be restored to its previous condition as soon as an application has been submitted, reviewed, and returned for amendment.