Macron Rejects False Migrant Claims Over French Unrest

On Thursday, French authorities restricted gatherings across parts of Paris as protests threatened to continue, while US President Donald Trump blamed “migrants, jihadists, and communists” for the unrest. President Emmanuel Macron said claims that migrants and Islamists had invaded France were “completely false.”

Police banned protests near the Elysee presidential palace, Bastille Square, both houses of parliament and tourist areas, including the Louvre and the Champs-Elysees. A curfew ran from 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) to 8 p.m. local time on Thursday, October 22, 2026.

Students began the protests, demanding better conditions, lower prices and education reform. Then masked rioters looted shops and clashed with police. France saw a successive string of protests, demonstrations and violence across the country the previous week. Authorities enforced temporary curfews, and organizers planned further demonstrations for the coming weekend.

Migration claims and political response

Trump blamed “migrants, jihadists, and communists” for the unrest, claiming they had “conquered, looted, and burned (France) to the ground.” While campaigning for the US midterm elections, he said he’d warned Macron about immigration, but the French president refused to close France’s borders.

Macron addressed claims about the unrest during a visit to Qatar on Wednesday. He said Trump and possibly Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought political gain from the crisis. Earlier in the week, Netanyahu had spoken of an “invasion of extremist Islam.”

“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 told reporters. Asked whether he meant Trump, Macron replied: “Among others.” He said people had manipulated information about the crisis, including through “AI-generated images depicting scenes that never actually happened.”

“We’ve had people claiming that we were invaded by hordes of migrants and Islamists, which is completely false,” Macron said. He was responding to claims by foreign leaders; the report said student demonstrations over conditions, prices and education reform began the protests, before clashes and looting followed.

Police response and government pressure

Stanislas Goudon, a representative from the French national police union Alliance, criticised what he called a “20 year lack of political courage” by successive French governments on security policy. He said that failure contributed to security problems the previous weekend.

The union filed a liability claim against the French state, accusing it of creating conditions that led to violence and endangered lives, including those of police officers. It cited “competing orders”, deprivation from use of intermediate weapons, and a “lack of training for teams” responsible for maintaining public order. Police had warned they lacked resources and weren’t prepared for further unrest.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Monday that authorities had “lost control” and failed to anticipate the scale of the violence. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu pledged a “massive” security deployment for expected large-scale protests in Paris over the weekend. Politicians used images of burning cars, broken shop windows and ransacked buildings to pressure the government, even after two relatively quiet nights.

Trade unions called for a general strike on November 5. Marine Le Pen, Macron’s far-right rival, called his account of manipulated images “conspiratorial.” She said images from the previous Saturday showed “the sad reality of what France has become after 10 years of Macronist rule.” Le Pen was described as the favorite to win France’s 2027 presidential election, followed by far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon.