France reels from weekend riots as parties trade blame ahead of presidential vote
October 21, 2026 at 02:28 AM · Updated 1h ago
8 reports · 4 in Arabic, 4 in English · over 13 hours
احتجاجات فرنسا: انقسام حول المسؤولية عن أعمال الشغب والدروس التي يجب استخلاصها
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فرنسا تستعد لاحتجاجات السبت بنشر قوات عسكرية لتخفيف الضغط على الشرطة والدرك
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‘It’s hard for us’: Paris small businesses bear brunt of protest violence
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From strife-torn France to the UK, rightwing populists win when they stir chaos while promising order | Rafael Behr
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هل تمتد أعمال الشغب في فرنسا إلى الولايات المتحدة؟
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France is divided over who to blame for and what to learn from weekend riots
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فرنسا التائهة خارج السيطرة.. ماكرون في مأزق واليمين يقترب من السلطة
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Rioting in France gives Trump a new talking point as he tries to stave off GOP midterm losses
(opens the publisher’s site)Riots across France on Saturday, marked by looting and violence, have triggered a blame war among presidential hopefuls six months before the election.
- Rioters looted more than 3,000 shops; authorities arrested some 2,400 people and around 1,000 police were injured.
- Interior Minister Laurent Nunez offered his resignation over the violence; President Macron refused it.
- Authorities imposed curfews in Paris, Lyon, Lille and Nice, while violent protests also erupted in Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Albania.
- Mélenchon accused Prime Minister Lecornu of responsibility for the chaos, while Le Pen blamed Mélenchon and migrants for the violence.
- President Donald Trump said the riots in France would never spread to the United States, linking the unrest to migrants.
- Trump said he will keep using French riot footage at a North Carolina rally, warning Democrats could bring similar unrest to the US.
- Vice President JD Vance joined other Republicans in blaming the French riots on uncontrolled immigration.
- Paris shopkeeper Hassan Rashdul lost $78,600 of stock in his mobile phone shop during the riots.
- The French government pledged to cover employee salaries for about 3,000 affected businesses and create a support fund for restocking.
- Anne Le Henanff, the French digital minister, demanded online platforms remove listings of stolen items.
- Prime Minister Lecornu and Interior Minister Nunez announced deploying Operation Sentinelle counter-terrorism troops to relieve police ahead of Saturday protests.
- Prime Minister Lecornu and Interior Minister Nunez blamed far-left and anarchist groups for orchestrating the violence, which Mélenchon dismissed as political maneuvering.