Translation of the French article by Jacques Rouchaud
Limoges town hall before the fire of 17 October 2026. Photo: Benjamin Smith, CC BY-SA, via Wikimedia Commons
On 17 October 2026, the town hall of Limoges burned. This building, whose foundation stone was laid in 1879 and which was inaugurated on 14 July 1883, was deliberately set on fire on the fringes of the demonstrations, according to the prefect of Haute-Vienne. The historic part is almost entirely destroyed. The campanile, emblem of the city, collapsed in the flames. An investigation for destruction by an organised gang has been opened; 17 people, seven of them minors, were taken into police custody.
That day, all over France, 2,397 people were arrested and 997 police officers and gendarmes were injured. This is not a minor news item. It is the sign of a country that is being ruined, stone by stone.
Destroying what generations have built
A town hall, a château, a church, a school: these are long-lived buildings, built and maintained by generations of French people, paid for by their work and their taxes. They belong to everyone. Whoever burns them is not attacking a government: he is attacking the people themselves, their memory and their future.
The students, the farmers, the doctors who were demonstrating had the right to do so. The right to demonstrate is a fundamental freedom. But it never justifies violence or destruction. The rioters, the black blocs and all those who slip into the marches to destroy everything betray those who demonstrate peacefully and are ruining France.
LFI and the political responsibility for the chaos
The mayor of Limoges, Guillaume Guérin, denounced the presence of two members of parliament from La France insoumise at the start of the demonstration. Other elected officials accuse LFI of playing the role of “engineer of chaos”. LFI replies that it calls for non-violence. But a political movement that, day after day, fans the embers of anger and refuses to clearly name the rioters bears a share of responsibility for the climate that leads to such acts.
The entryism of the Muslim Brotherhood
Another threat, quieter, is undermining the Republic from within. In May 2025, a report submitted to the government on the Muslim Brotherhood and political Islamism in France described their strategy of entryism into associations, sport, schools and local life, in order to impose their rules in place of those of the Republic. This is not about the Muslims of France, who are our fellow citizens, but about a political organisation that wants to divide the nation.
The answer: demosciocracy
Faced with those who destroy and those who divide, France needs to pull itself together. Demosciocracy gives power back to citizens, in their territories, with the Territory Council, the Chamber of the People and the Chamber of Corporations. A people that decides for itself protects what belongs to it: its town halls, its monuments, its heritage.
Solidarity with the people of Limoges, with the municipal staff and with the injured police officers and gendarmes. Let us also feel for all the other places sullied, ransacked or destroyed.
Freedom – Equality – Truth
Jacques Rouchaud
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