Macron Slams Foreign Leaders for Exploiting French Riots in Election Campaigns

French President Emmanuel Macron has strongly criticized foreign leaders for exploiting violent riots that recently shook several French cities, accusing them of leveraging false information for their own electoral campaigns.

Speaking during a visit to the Middle East, Macron stated that leaders in campaign mode were operating at France’s expense. While he did not explicitly name individuals, the remarks appeared to target figures such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, both of whom face upcoming political polls.

The unrest in France erupted following weeks of student demonstrations over high school conditions, eventually leading to clashes between masked rioters and police in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and Nice. Nearly 150 individuals have been jailed, and over 800 have faced the courts. Macron blamed ultra-left fringe groups for instigating much of the initial trouble.

However, the French president emphasized that while there was no direct foreign interference in the outbreak of the riots, there was widespread foreign manipulation of information afterward. He criticized what he called unacceptable and unfounded comments from foreign leaders, addressing claims that France had experienced an invasion of migrants and extremists.

Netanyahu had previously stated that France was suffering from an invasion of extremist Islam, while Trump blamed the turmoil on mass immigration and urged France to close its borders. Security officials and researchers have also pointed to online disinformation campaigns, noting that AI-generated images and fake videos mimicking major French news outlets were amplified by pro-Russian, far-right, and other foreign networks to sow chaos.

Read the full report on Nile Post.