Macron accuses foreign leaders of exploiting France's riots

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday took an apparent swipe at US President Donald Trump for exploiting France’s riots for advantage in the US midterm election battle, as Paris prepared for more protests this weekend, Dawn reported, citing AFP.

Speaking during a visit to Qatar, Macron implied that Trump, and possibly Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also in election mode, had made “stupid comments” about the unrest for political gain, though he named neither.

“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,” he told reporters in Doha.

What Trump and Netanyahu said

• Trump: has sought to link the “revolution” in France to “migrants, jihadists, and communists” while campaigning for Republicans, and on Tuesday hailed far-right leader Marine Le Pen as a conservative voice
• Netanyahu: facing his own tough election, argued on Tuesday that France had been hit by an “invasion of extremist Islam”

Several analysts have dismissed claims that migrants are driving France’s protests. The unrest overshadowed demonstrations on Saturday in which more than half a million people marched nationwide against the cost of living, after four weeks of student protests that closed many schools.

A government under pressure

Macron’s government has warned it will tolerate no further violence. It has admitted it “lost control” during the street violence last weekend, when masked youths clashed with police, looted shops and vandalised public buildings.

• Thursday: Macron will chair a meeting of key ministers and intelligence officials for a “detailed account” of what happened
• Saturday: Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has vowed a “massive” police deployment for new demonstrations called by the Yellow Vest movement against rising inflation
• Curfews: Paris and several other cities imposed night-time curfews on Monday and Tuesday in areas prone to protests or looting

Markets rattled

The convulsion in France, the EU’s second-biggest economy after Germany, has rattled financial markets already nervous about France’s debt and deficit. The yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond passed 5 percent on Wednesday, and Moody’s is expected to cut its rating on France’s debt on Friday.

Lecornu has little chance of winning quick parliamentary backing for a cost-cutting budget that must be adopted before the end of the year. An Ifop survey after the riots suggested Le Pen would lead the first round of next April’s presidential election by a wide margin, with far-left Jean-Luc Melenchon her most likely runoff opponent.

Unrest has also spread on a smaller scale to Italy, which has ordered 500 troops to Milan, and to Belgium.

Why it matters

France’s riots have become a weapon in other countries’ elections, with Muslims and migrants blamed even as analysts dismiss those claims. Macron’s rebuke shows how far the crisis has damaged France’s image abroad, and his own standing at home. Read our reports on France’s curfews and on Trump’s warning that the US could “burn” like France.

This article draws on reporting by Dawn and AFP.