Gavin Mortimer, The Spectator, March 19, 2020

Any hope that the two week ‘confinement’ imposed by President Macron would heal France’s deep divisions has vanished as swiftly as food on the supermarket shelves here.

There is growing anger in the provinces at the sudden arrival of thousands of well-heeled Parisians, who have fled the capital for their second homes. Many seaside residents in Brittany and the Côte d’Azur are senior citizens and they are furious about the sight of selfish Parisians stripping their stores of essential goods.

Back in Paris, meanwhile, video footage has been uploaded onto several right-leaning news outlets of some mild disorder outside shops in districts such as Barbès, Château Rouge and La Chapelle. These are suburbs with large immigrant populations so one doesn’t need a degree from the Sorbonne to understand the implication. It’s a shame these outlets don’t devote the same amount of coverage to the men and women who are stacking supermarket shelves, operating the tills, cleaning hospital wards and emptying the bins. Many are first or second generation immigrants, and have courage and diligence. Without them Paris would be close to collapse.

When Marine Le Pen appeared on breakfast television this morning she expressed no gratitude for the selflessness of these people. Instead she wanted to draw attention to the claims of people breaking the ‘confinement’ rules in certain Parisian districts. Le Pen is fully supportive of the two week confinement but believes it is too little, too late. ‘The borders have not been controlled quickly enough,’ she said, adding that the government’s inability to provide medical staff with enough masks (China has come to rescue, flying over one million masks and gloves) was indicative of their mismanagement of the crisis.

Earlier in the week Le Pen expressed outrage at the government’s response to the virus, after the former Minister of Health, Agnès Buzyn, said she warned the government in January that coronavirus was far more serious than the Chinese were letting on. A former doctor, Buzyn left her position in February to stand as Macron’s preferred candidate in the Paris Mayoral election.