France Rejects Trump's Attempt to Blame Unrest on Migration, Macron Dismisses 'Stupid Comments'

France's leadership and protesting students have rejected US President Donald Trump's attempt to blame migration and open-border policies for the protests, clashes and looting in France. President Emmanuel Macron described comments by many, including foreign leaders, as 'stupid'.

At the White House on Monday, Trump said that if Europe does not close its borders and bring the criminals out, Europe is finished. Looking at France, Italy and all the turmoil and hatred, he said, that is not about school, that is about people coming into countries who hate the country.

Speaking during a visit to Qatar, Macron slammed 'stupid comments by many, including foreign leaders' without naming Trump. He said there was no evidence of foreign interference behind the riots.

Bilal Narjissi, a 17-year-old student at the Paul Eluard high school near Paris, called Trump's intervention 'stupid talk'. They can think whatever they like, he said, while students focus on the main subject, which is the students' demands. The far right bases its politics on instilling fear, he added.

Emmanuel Dupuy, president of the Institute for European Perspective and Security Studies, said Trump's argument was aimed at American voters. It is an artificial argument used as a political tool in the context of the midterm elections, he said, trying to argue that what is happening in France would happen in the US if Democrats get elected.

Largely peaceful high school student demonstrations in France descended into chaos over the weekend when rioters attacked city halls and looted stores, marking the most violent unrest in France in years.

More than 2,000 people were placed in police custody, the vast majority of them minors, and thousands of businesses were ransacked. French authorities imposed partial and temporary curfews in certain cities across the country, including in areas of Paris.

Concerns over dilapidated buildings, overcrowded classes and teacher shortages were at the fore of the students' demands, but the movement quickly catalysed wider discontent over the cost of living and social unease. Italy, Albania and Spain have seen similar demonstrations.

French authorities have not linked crime with migration. The state does not share the identities of people arrested and sent to trial, and under constitutional laws aimed at equality it is illegal to collect data on ethnicity and race.

Far-right leader and presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen and politicians from the centrist bloc, including Macron and Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, have accused hard-left groups of fomenting disorder.

The wave of protests has struck a nerve across Europe too. Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar posted a video on X showing buildings burning in France, saying it was now clear why Hungary takes the toughest possible stance on immigration. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X that Poland will not repeat the mistakes of other European countries, nor pay for them, and will be uncompromising on security.

US Vice President JD Vance said on X that western liberals imported the third world into France and other countries in the name of diversity and compassion, ignoring fundamental questions of assimilation and compatibility.

Dupuy said the origin of those who joined the violence was beside the point. The protesters were high school students, then professional black bloc members and looters joined too, and whether they came from a third or fourth generation of former migrants is irrelevant, he said. Eventually, this is a problem of integration, not immigration.

Some critics have argued that Trump is trying to divert attention from the US cost-of-living crisis. Costs are rising in the US amid the Iran war he launched and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has sent energy prices to new heights.

The US is in campaigning mode ahead of key elections in early November that will determine who dominates Congress. What is happening in France, Trump said, should be a cautionary tale for American voters, and the dispute shows how Europe's unrest has entered election politics across the Atlantic.