French President Emmanuel Macron rejected claims that France faced a migrant invasion as the government prepared for another round of demonstrations on Saturday, Oct. 24. Speaking to reporters in Doha on Wednesday, he called foreign leaders’ remarks about the October 17 unrest “unacceptable and stupid.”
Background: Trump Urges France to Close Borders as He Says the Country Is “burning”
Macron said images created with artificial intelligence showed scenes that had not happened in France. He also denied claims that migrants and Islamists had overrun the country.
“Some people have claimed that we were invaded by hordes of migrants and Islamists – which is completely false.”
He said comments by foreign leaders were using France’s difficulties for election campaigning. The government is preparing for renewed protests as officials face questions over the violence and the response to it.
Donald Trump had made immigration central to his comments about the unrest. On Tuesday, he said immigration, not education grievances, was behind the protests. At a rally Monday evening, he told the crowd, “If you want to see what is at stake in this election, just look at what's happening in France.”
Trump also said he had warned Macron that Paris could become a “Muslim city” if France did not close its borders. He invoked the French unrest in campaigning ahead of the November 3 US midterm elections. Macron did not name him.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described France as facing an “invasion of extremist Islam” in an interview. He said French leaders had failed to prepare and blamed extremist Muslims for fueling the violence. Hungary's Péter Magyar and Poland's Donald Tusk were among other European political figures who linked the protests to migration.
Ministers say police and military will join a larger Saturday deployment
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said the government planned a large security operation. “The deployment next Saturday will be massive,” he said. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said military personnel would work alongside police.
The government also pledged to revise its tactics after criticism that city centers had been left exposed. Macron said a state of emergency was not needed at present because existing laws gave officials adequate powers. He left open the possibility of using emergency powers if conditions changed.
Curfews and restrictions on gatherings had already been imposed in some areas affected by the violence. After returning on Thursday, Macron said he would meet ministers and intelligence officials to receive a detailed account of the previous unrest and preparations for the weekend.
Targeted curfews preceded a quieter night. Police cleared and guarded Place de la Republique in central Paris, while officers patrolled Lille and checked passersby’s identities. In Lille, the curfew applied to minors. Marseille Mayor Benoit Payan said curfews for minors would cover commercial areas hit by the riots, beginning Tuesday night.
Arrests, injuries and damaged landmarks show the scale of the unrest
The demonstrations began with students demanding more school funding, then drew unions and other groups protesting the cost of living. The Interior Ministry estimated that around 550,000 people took part nationwide. The CGT labour union put the figure at 800,000, while Paris police counted 110,000 people in a march in the capital.
More than 2,000 people had been arrested, including a record 855 in Paris. More than 500 police officers, gendarmes and firefighters were injured. One protester died after suffering a cardiac arrest during a demonstration in Paris.
Damage spread across several cities. In Marseille, black-clad protesters stormed the city hall before official marches began, shouting, “It's the Revolution, we're taking the Bastille.” In Lyon, demonstrators set fire to the tourism office and smashed its windows; some tried to prevent firefighters from reaching the blaze.
A fire brought down the roof of Limoges’ historic town hall, opened in 1883. In Paris, rioters damaged shops and banks around Place de la Republique, tried to enter Galeries Lafayette, and looted a Lacoste store and an SFR phone shop.
Nunez said businesses had been looted in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Rennes, Strasbourg, Grenoble, Nice, Limoges and other cities. A trade-body president estimated that damage to shops would cost hundreds of millions of euros. The mayors of Paris, Marseille and Lyon asked to meet Lecornu in the coming days, citing the damage and the seriousness of the situation.
Investigations and rival protest calls add to Saturday’s agenda
Lecornu acknowledged failures in the state’s response, including intelligence problems, police deployments that were too static and a decision not to cancel planned police leave. Nunez accepted responsibility for his part in the response.
“I deeply regret what happened. I accept my share of responsibility.”
Lecornu described the choice as “between violence and the Republic” and blamed far-left groups. Those groups accused the government of dismissing anger over living costs and declining public services. Nunez also blamed far-left protesters and criminals who looted and ransacked buildings. On X, he wrote: “The right to protest is a fundamental right. Deliberately and collectively sowing disorder through violence is not”.
Parliament is setting up a commission of inquiry into the unrest. Authorities have assigned 200 investigators to identify people involved in the street violence. Police arrested a man on Tuesday on suspicion of starting the fire that destroyed Limoges’ town hall. Officials said he had been on a security watch list and belonged to an ultra-left group.
France’s main student union, UNEF, called for more demonstrations over what it described as an underfunded and deteriorating education system. “We carry on,” it said on social media. Groups identifying themselves as “Gilets Jaunes” separately called for protest actions over rising fuel costs.
The unrest followed four weeks of marches and school barricades involving students, parents, teachers, grandparents and workers. Demonstrators called for more public-service funding as they protested the cost of living. French borrowing costs also rose, and the yield on 10-year government bonds reached its highest level in 24 years on Tuesday.
The protests have sharpened political tensions ahead of next year’s presidential election. Macron is standing down next spring, while far-right candidate Marine Le Pen polls strongly. Saturday’s demonstrations are the next test of the government’s security preparations.
