6 February 1934 crisis

The 6 February 1934 crisis (French: Crise du 6 février 1934), also known as the Veterans' Riot, was an anti-parliamentarist street demonstration in Paris on 6 February 1934.

Prime Minister Édouard Daladier came to power in late January to replace Camille Chautemps in the aftermath of the Stavisky Affair. Daladier's dismissal of Jean Chiappe, the anti-communist Paris Prefect of Police, caused multiple far-right leagues to organize protests. These rapidly degenerated into a riot on the Place de la Concorde, near the building used for the National Assembly, against Daladier's centre-left government and the Third Republic. Demonstrations ended when Daladier resigned and a caretaker government of national unity headed by former prime minister Gaston Doumergue was established.

The police shot and killed 17 people, nine of whom were far-right protesters. It was one of the major political crises during the Third Republic and the only time a government had been brought down by demonstrations. France's political left claimed it was a fascist coup d'état attempt, leading to the creation of several left-wing anti-fascist organizations such as the Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes. According to historian Joel Colton, "The consensus among scholars is that there was no concerted or unified design to seize power and that the leagues lacked the coherence, unity, or leadership to accomplish such an end." After World War II, several historians, among them Serge Berstein, argued that while some leagues had indisputably desired a coup, François de La Rocque had in fact moderated toward a respect for constitutional order. The 6 February actions were arguably an uncoordinated but violent attempt to overthrow the left-wing Cartel des gauches government elected in 1932.