PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday took an apparent swipe at counterpart Donald Trump over exploiting France’s riots for advantage in the US midterm election battle, as Paris prepared for more protests this weekend.
Macron, speaking during a visit to Qatar, implied that Trump, and possibly Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also fighting an election campaign, made “stupid comments” on the unrest for political gain, though he did not name either leader.
“There are people who campaign at France’s expense — leaders who are in campaign mode, whether here in the region or on the other side of the Atlantic,” he told reporters in Doha. Macron spoke as his government struggled to contain a crisis that has damaged France’s image abroad and rattled financial markets six months before presidential elections.
France’s government has admitted it “lost control” in the frenzy of street violence that erupted last weekend, when masked youths clashed with police, looted shops and vandalised public buildings.
Trump has sought to link the unrest to “migrants, jihadists, and communists” as he campaigned for his Republican party in the United States on his anti-immigration messaging. He also on Tuesday hailed French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who shares his ideologies, as surveys put her as the frontrunner in France’s presidential race.
Trump’s ally Netanyahu, facing his own tough election battle, on Tuesday argued that France had been hit by an “invasion of extremist Islam”. Several analysts have dismissed the claims that migrants were driving France’s protests.
Curfews
The unrest overshadowed demonstrations held Saturday in which more than half a million people marched nationwide against the cost of living. Those rallies followed four weeks of student protests that have closed many schools across France.
Since the rioting — the worst France has seen in years — and ahead of fresh cost-of-living demonstrations planned for Saturday, Macron’s government has warned it will brook no further violence. Authorities in Paris and several other cities imposed nighttime curfews in areas prone to unrest. Police said the Paris curfew would be renewed Wednesday night.
Macron said he would chair a meeting of ministers and intelligence officials on Thursday to receive a “detailed account” of last weekend’s unrest.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, who met unions organising marches, has vowed a “massive” police deployment for Saturday’s demonstrations. Following the meeting, the leader of France’s hardline CGT union, Sophie Binet, called for a “new phase” of protests, with strikes early next month.
Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2026
