Macron Calls Foreign Leaders' Comments on France Riots Stupid and Unacceptable

President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday called comments by foreign leaders about the rioting in France "stupid" and "unacceptable", in remarks aimed at leaders who have blamed immigration for the unrest. He did not name President Donald Trump or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but when reporters asked if he meant Trump, he said: "Among others."

Macron spoke to reporters in Doha, Qatar, on a three day tour of the Gulf, seeking energy deals as France grapples with rising fuel costs. "There was foreign manipulation of information which led to unacceptable and even stupid comments by many, including foreign leaders," he said, according to AFP.

AI images and an invasion claim

Macron said leaders who are campaigning for elections at home had repeated, sometimes with credulity, material generated by artificial intelligence. "We saw images generated by AI which showed scenes that never took place in France," he said. "We had people who explained that we had been invaded by hordes of migrants and Islamists, which is totally false."

He stressed that he saw no foreign interference in the weekend events themselves. The manipulation, in his account, came afterwards, in what was said about them. "In these moments you see who likes France and who does not," he added.

What Trump and Netanyahu said

Trump has used the riots in his campaigning for the November midterm elections in the United States. In a social media post he wrote that France is burning and that immigration had shattered the country, and he told France to close its borders and take control. On Monday he said France was being "conquered, looted and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists and communists who hate Christianity" and Western civilization itself, CNN reported. At a rally he told supporters that anyone who wants to see what is at stake in the US election should look at France. He has also praised Marine Le Pen, the far right frontrunner in next year's French presidential election, as a conservative voice, AFP reported.

Netanyahu said on Tuesday that France had been hit by an "invasion of extremist Islam", and suggested that only he and Trump were defending western values, The Times reported. Israel holds a general election this month.

A vow on Saturday's protests

The unrest began in September as protests over education and the cost of living, and it produced some of the worst urban violence France has seen in years on Saturday, October 17, on the fringe of nationwide protests. More than 2,000 people were arrested over the past weekend, and local curfews remain in place in the worst hit areas.

Macron vowed there would be no repeat. "Those who want to cause disorder in city centres next Saturday will be prevented from doing so," he told reporters in Qatar, Reuters reported. He said he would meet intelligence officials and senior ministers on Thursday to discuss the crisis. The student union UNEF has called more rallies for Saturday, a Yellow Vest group has filed plans for a march through central Paris the same day, and unions have pledged a general strike on November 5 after talks with the government ended without agreement, Reuters reported.

At home, Macron has been criticised in some quarters for travelling to the Middle East during the crisis, and for a Sunday address that critics said offered no clear path forward. Before leaving Qatar he insisted he was in control: "I am fulfilling my role. I am at my post."