Macron slams "stupid" comments by foreign leaders on France riots

Emmanuel Macron hit out on Wednesday at foreign leaders who made “stupid comments” about France’s riots, saying AI-generated fake videos and foreign information manipulation had fuelled misinformed reactions to the unrest.

Speaking in Doha, the French president said: “There was foreign manipulation of information which led to unacceptable and even stupid comments by many, including foreign leaders,” according to the Straits Times (https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/macron-slams-stupid-comments-based-on-ai-videos-by-leaders-on-france-riots).

“We saw images generated by AI which showed scenes that never took place in France,” he added. “We had people who explained that we had been ‘invaded by hordes of migrants and Islamists’ — which is totally false.”

Macron did not name anyone, but the remarks appeared aimed at Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump had linked the unrest to “migrants, jihadists, and communists” and hailed Marine Le Pen as a “conservative voice,” while Netanyahu said on Tuesday that France had been hit by an “invasion of extremist Islam,” per i24News, as reported by Dawn (https://www.dawn.com/news/2038917).

“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,” Macron said, implying the comments were made for political gain.

His government has admitted losing control last weekend, when masked youths clashed with police, looted shops and vandalised property, in the worst urban violence in years. It erupted on the fringe of nationwide cost-of-living protests on Oct 17, in which more than 500,000 people marched.

Macron stopped short of alleging foreign interference in the unrest itself, attributing the episode to information manipulation only. Analysts have likewise dismissed claims that the rioting was driven by migrants.