French President Emmanuel Macron has accused foreign leaders of exploiting the riots which erupted across the country on Saturday for electoral purposes. Without naming them, he said they were campaigning for forthcoming elections "at France's expense" with their comments on the violence, which erupted on the fringe of cost-of-living protests. Speaking on a visit to the Middle East, he referred to them as "leaders who are in campaign mode, whether here in the region or on the other side of the Atlantic".
It was an apparent swipe at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces parliamentary elections next week, and US President Donald Trump, for whom mid-term polls fall next month. Macron said the unnamed leaders had been influenced by fake videos generated by AI about the riots. Nearly 150 people have been jailed and more than 800 brought before the courts since the riots which gripped Paris and other cities including Lyon, Marseille and Nice.
Video of running battles between masked rioters and police, as well as property being destroyed and stores being looted, spread across social media. The government admitted the police had "lost control" during the violence, which came after weeks of protests by students over conditions in high schools. Macron vowed afterwards that the authorities would be "uncompromising" towards "agitators from ultra-left fringe groups", which he blamed for much of the trouble.
Clean up begins after French riots but police remain Suspect arrested after historic town hall set alight - French media Katya Adler: France divided over who to blame for riots and what to learn from them In pictures: French landmarks damaged and destroyed by violent protesters Katya Adler: France's government under pressure after weekend of widespread violence Speaking in the Qatari capital Doha, the French president said: "For me, there is no visible foreign interference in the events that took place. On the other hand, there was foreign manipulation of information afterwards, yes, and that gave rise to unacceptable and stupid comments from many people, including foreign leaders... "We had people claiming that we had been invaded by hordes of migrants and Islamists, which is completely false." On Tuesday, Netanyahu said in an interview for Israel's i24 channel, external that France, which has Western Europe's largest Muslim minority, had been hit by an "invasion of extremist Islam".
He said he had told Macron after the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023: "If we do not eliminate them here, you will have them in Paris." "That is exactly what is happening," he added. Also on Tuesday, Trump blamed the riots on mass immigration to France. "When I look at France, when you look at Italy, when you look at all the turmoil and the hatred, that's not about school," he said.
"That's about people coming into the countries that hate the country." "Close your borders and take control before it is too late!" he said in remarks directed at Macron. Israel's far right find fertile ground among first-time voters Analysis: Trump's global headaches worsen weeks before crucial elections Pink Panther rioting in France is actually AI According to a report in the UK's Financial Times newspaper, external, EU regulators are examining possible foreign online interference and disinformation campaigns around the French riots and similar recent outbursts of unrest in EU states. It quotes unnamed security officials as saying that pro-Russian and far-right social media accounts linked to previous disinformation campaigns have spread violent videos in an attempt to sow more chaos.
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