French Unrest, Russia Sanctions Waiver, and Tightening LNG Market

France endured one of the worst weekends of domestic unrest in its modern history as peaceful protests were hijacked by looting and rioting, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. The protests’ origins can be traced back to mid-September, when Parisian students took to the streets to protest over school funding and faltering public services. Disorder spread to other French cities and then turned violent as black-clad masked activists capitalised on the disorder, which reached fever pitch at the weekend. Around 1,500 shops across the country were ransacked, causing hundreds of millions of Euros’ worth of damage, while around 550,000 protestors turned out on the streets. Thanks to the disorder, 2,400 people have been arrested across the country and over 1,000 police officers and firefighters have been injured, in some cases seriously.

Political Blame Game

The government has pointed the finger at the far left for stoking the protests,…