The US president dismissed protesters’ grievances over schools and claimed Islam wants to “take over” the country
US President Donald Trump has blamed the violent student protests in France on the country’s migration policies, rejecting rioters’ claims that the unrest is driven by poor school conditions and teacher shortages.
On Tuesday, France saw the largest day of demonstrations demanding that the government of President Emmanuel Macron provide more resources and better funding for schools since the student protest movement began in mid-September.
Some 266,000 people took to the streets across the country, with 56,000 joining the march in Paris and major rallies also taking place in Marseille, Strasbourg, Nantes, Lyon, and other cities, the Interior Ministry said. The organizers put the attendance at 450,000.
In some locations, including Paris, protests escalated into vandalism and clashes between demonstrators and police, who employed tear gas and batons to disperse the crowds. A total of 488 people were arrested on the day nationwide, according to the French authorities.
Teachers, parents, and rights groups have accused police of excessive force, with around 215 students injured over the past three weeks. They include a 15-year-old who lost his hand after reportedly picking up a police stun grenade and a 16-year-old who lost sight in one eye, allegedly after being hit by a rubber bullet. On Wednesday, the French government banned the use of stun grenades during the student protests. More than 6,500 people, mostly minors, have been arrested, according to AP.
In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump insisted that “what’s happening in France is nothing less than out of control mass migration,” rather than a dispute over schools, claiming that “Islam [wants] to take over a once great Country!”
France, which has been one of the main destinations for migrants in the EU in recent years, has a foreign-born population of 9.6 million, the second largest in the bloc after Germany.
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