Amid France protests and as the country prepares for additional weekend demonstrations, Emmanuel Macron has criticized Donald Trump and other international figures for making “stupid comments” concerning the nation’s street protests for political gain.
Speaking during a visit to Qatar, the French president noted that the “manipulation of information” in the wake of Saturday’s unrest had prompted “words that are as terrible as they are dumb, from many people, including foreign leaders,” though he did not explicitly name anyone.
When questioned whether his remarks referred to Donald Trump, Macron replied, “Among others.” The U.S. president, currently campaigning for his Republican Party ahead of the midterms, has blamed the violence in France on “migrants, Islamists, and communists.”
In a short video clip spotted by our correspondent, US President, Donald Trump said while speaking to a reporter, “Paris is gonna be a Muslim city very soon, and that wasn’t the deal. I told Emmanuel you should close up your boarders but he didn’t”
Speaking to reporters in Doha, Macron stated that certain leaders “in the middle of election campaigns, whether here in the region or on the other side of the Atlantic,” were “naively disseminating tales that certain groups are plainly attempting to push.”
The French president asserted that they were “using our country for their own political efforts,” adding, “We also don’t require that. We already have challenges.”
He further noted that AI-generated images depicting “incidents that never actually happened in France” were circulating, alongside false claims that the nation had been overrun by hordes of refugees and Islamists—assertions he described as entirely untrue.
Backstory…
The France protests over rising living costs—which began largely peacefully—quickly devolved into widespread violence and looting, particularly in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, and Limoges, where rioters set fire to the town hall and partially destroyed it.
Police banned demonstrations in specific parts of Paris on Thursday as the capital prepared for further unrest.
The crisis creates a steep challenge for Macron and his administration just six months before presidential elections to choose his successor. The government even admitted that it “lost control” during Saturday’s extensive riots.
The violence has rattled already unstable financial markets and prompted several nations to issue travel advisories for France.
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