US and Israeli flags trampled and burned in France (video)

On October 31, 2026, an incident that caused a serious stir took place in the French city of Lyon. During mass protests by schoolchildren and students, a group of demonstrators trampled on the national flags of the US and Israel and then set them on fire.

Video footage widely circulated on social media shows masked youths climbing onto the glass roof of the "Jean-Macé" tram station in Lyon, first stomping on the symbols of both countries and then setting them ablaze. The large crowd gathered around the station greeted these actions with cheers and chanted slogans against Israel.

From educational issues to mass unrest: What is the root cause of the protests?

This politically charged demonstration in Lyon is actually a continuation of a social crisis that has been ongoing for several weeks:

• Demands in schools (End of September): The protest movement was initially started by high school and school students. They opposed the lack of funding allocated to educational institutions, the acute shortage of teachers, and the excessive number of students in classrooms;

• Joining of social and political forces: Later, due to inflation and the sharp rise in the cost of living, the protests reached a national scale. Trade unions, students, various political parties, and migrants joined the movement. The flag-burning incident in Lyon also occurred during a large march organized by trade unions;

• Over 320,000 protesters: According to official data from the French Ministry of the Interior, more than 320,000 people took to the streets across the country that weekend. In a number of major cities, the actions escalated into serious clashes with the police and riots.

This incident shows that internal socio-economic protests in France are increasingly taking on a sharp geopolitical and ideological character.