Leaders criticised for spreading misleading information as France prepares for further protests this weekend
Emmanuel Macron has accused Donald Trump and other foreign leaders of making “stupid comments” about France’s street unrest for political gain, as the country prepared for more protests this weekend.
Speaking during a visit to Qatar, the French president did not name names but said “manipulation of information” after Saturday’s riots had led to “comments that are as unacceptable as they are stupid, from many people, including foreign leaders”.
Asked if he was referring to Donald Trump, Macron replied: “Among others.” The US president has blamed France’s violence on “migrants, jihadists and communists” as he campaigns for his Republican party before midterm elections.
Macron told reporters in Doha that some leaders “in the middle of election campaigns, whether here in the region or on the other side of the Atlantic” were “naively spreading narratives that certain circles are clearly trying to promote”.
They were “using our country for their own political campaigns”, the French president said. “And we don’t need that. We already have difficulties to deal with.”
He said AI-generated images were circulating “depicting scenes that never actually happened in France. We’ve had people claiming that we were invaded by hordes of migrants and Islamists, which is completely false.”
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces elections next weekend, has also said that France had been hit by an “invasion of extremist Islam”. Analysts have dismissed claims that migrants were the main factor in France’s protests.
Macron and his government are struggling to get on top of a crisis that has erupted six months before presidential elections to choose his successor. The government has admitted it “lost control” over widespread rioting on Saturday.
Largely peaceful demonstrations over the cost of living rapidly descended into rampant violence and extensive looting, especially in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Limoges, where the town hall was set on fire and partly destroyed.
Police said that protests would be banned in parts of Paris on Thursday as the city braced for more demonstrations.
The unrest has prompted several countries to issue travel warnings for France and rattled already nervous financial markets, with the yield on the French government’s benchmark 10-year bonds passing 5% on Wednesday, its highest since 2002.
Macron pledged to prevent any repeat of last weekend’s convulsions, as the gilets jaunes (yellow vest) grassroots protest movement formally filed plans for a march through the centre of Paris on Saturday that is likely to be the government’s next big test.
Student groups have also called for protests on the same day to push demands for greater investment in education. The gilets jaunes activists aim to revive their nationwide 2018 campaign against rising living costs and declining public services.
“Those who want to cause disorder in city centres next Saturday will be prevented from doing so,” Macron told reporters in the Gulf, where he was seeking energy deals to help offset rising fuel costs. “There must be no wavering at the top of the state.”
Government ministers have promised a “massive” and vastly reinforced security operation after acknowledging shortcomings in their initial response last weekend, with some troops expected to be deployed alongside police reinforcements.
Partial night-time curfews imposed on Monday and Tuesday in areas prone to violent protests and looting in cities around France, including Paris, Marseille and Lille, have helped ensure relative calm and were expected to be renewed on Wednesday.
France’s main trade unions have separately called a nationwide mobilisation for 5 November. Sophie Binet, the head of the CGT union, said: “There is huge and legitimate anger, and the answer to that situation is not repression. It is a political response.”
Macron insisted France “doesn’t need a state of emergency”, saying it “has the means” to control any further unrest. Union representatives met the prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, on Wednesday but no concrete announcements followed.
Sometimes violent protests in European countries including Italy and Belgium have added to concerns that anger over living standards risks spreading across the continent where with many nations, including France, face budget problems.
Italy’s government has ordered 500 troops to Milan to stem street violence there.
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Source: www.theguardian.com
