Politics
Macron accuses Trump and other foreign leaders of exploiting France riots for political gain
October 21, 2026 at 03:26 PM · Updated 15h ago
Coverage
5 reports · 3 in Arabic, 2 in English · over 10 hours
Macron accused foreign leaders, including US President Donald Trump, of exploiting France's weekend riots for political gain amid AI-generated misinformation.
- Riots erupted across France on Saturday during cost-of-living protests, with the government admitting police "lost control" and nearly 150 people jailed since.
- Macron said unnamed leaders "in the middle of election campaigns" spread claims that France was "invaded by hordes of migrants and Islamists."
- Trump blamed the violence on "migrants, jihadists and communists," telling Macron to "close your borders."
- Netanyahu said France had been hit by an "invasion of extremist Islam."
- Macron pledged to prevent a repeat of the riots and said he would meet intelligence officials and senior ministers on Thursday to discuss the crisis.
- Macron vowed to stop those seeking to cause chaos in city centers this coming Saturday, speaking during his Gulf visit on Wednesday.
- Interior Minister Laurent Nunez called the looters opportunistic criminals and said authorities hold recordings to identify those involved.
- Macron vowed to rigorously punish those responsible for the violence, saying the hand of the state must not tremble.
- Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu met major unions but announced no immediate measures, prompting the CGT to call strikes from November 5.
- Critics including Marine Le Pen and former presidents condemned the government's handling of the unrest.



