Trump blames France's student protests on mass migration and Islam
Donald Trump has blamed France's student protests on "mass migration" and Islam, claims contradicted by reporting that the demonstrators' demands concern school funding and staffing.
US President Donald Trump has blamed France’s mass student protests on “mass migration” and Islam — claims contradicted by reporting on what the demonstrators are actually demanding.
In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Mr Trump wrote: “What’s happening in France is nothing less than out of control mass migration,” adding: “This isn’t about schools, this is about Islam wanting to take over a once great Country!” (https://www.jpost.com/international/article-910840)
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz echoed the remarks to Fox News Digital, linking the unrest to European immigration and economic policies while condemning the violence. Waltz said open-borders and pro-migration policies, coupled with policies that “deny people basic energy”, had produced frustration “boiling to the surface”. (https://foxnews.com/world/trump-waltz-link-france-riots-mass-immigration-thousands-arrested)
But Reuters reports the students’ demands concern understaffing and lack of funding — not religion or immigration — and that Marine Le Pen’s National Rally has not linked the protests to France’s migration policy. Protesters in Marseille and Nantes carried handmade signs reading: “The state has killed national education.”
France’s Interior Ministry said 488 people were arrested and 48 security personnel injured on Tuesday. The protests began in September in the deprived suburbs of Paris before spreading nationwide, and the High School Students Union said more than half of France’s high schools were blockaded or closed for the day. The justice ministry said on Monday that more than 1,800 people are being prosecuted for unspecified crimes, including 1,483 minors.
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