PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron has accused foreign leaders, including those "on the other side of the Atlantic", of attempting to exploit France's tense social climate for political gain following a weekend of violence and unrest.
Protests in France over soaring living costs have attracted international attention.
US President Donald Trump has blamed immigration for the unrest sweeping parts of Europe, warning that France and Italy risk further instability unless their governments tighten border controls, even as French authorities have attributed much of the recent violence to radical groups amid protests over education and rising living costs.
Macron said there had been "foreign manipulation of information in the aftermath" of the looting reported in Paris and other French cities over the weekend. He criticised the comments made by several foreign leaders in response to the situation, describing them as both unacceptable and foolish.
"And that has led to comments that are as unacceptable as they are stupid, from many people, including foreign leaders," Macron said.
When a reporter asked whether he was referring specifically to Trump, the French President replied, "Among others".
Macron also rejected Trump's assertion that France was being overrun by migrants and Islamists, describing the claim as 'completely false'.
He pointed to the circulation of AI-generated images portraying incidents that had never taken place in the country, arguing that such content was contributing to the spread of misleading narratives about the unrest. "AI-generated images depicting scenes that never actually happened in France. We've had people claiming that we were invaded by hordes of migrants and Islamists, which is completely false," he said. (ANI)
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