Macron takes aim at Trump for using France riots for election gain
President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday took an apparent swipe at counterpart Donald Trump over exploiting France’s riots for advantage in the US midterm election battle, as Paris prepared for more protests this weekend.
Macron, speaking during a visit to Qatar, implied that Trump, and possibly Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also fighting an election campaign, made “stupid comments” on the unrest for political gain, though he did not name either leader.
“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.
Macron spoke as his government struggled to contain a crisis that has damaged France’s image abroad and rattled financial markets six months before presidential elections.
France’s government has admitted it “lost control” in the frenzy of street violence that erupted last weekend, when masked youths clashed with police, looted shops and vandalised public buildings.
Trump has sought to link the unrest to “migrants, jihadists, and communists” as he campaigned for his Republican party in the United States on his anti-immigration messaging.
He also on Tuesday hailed French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who shares his ideologies, as surveys putting her as the frontrunner in France’s presidential race.
Trump’s ally Netanyahu, facing his own tough election battle, on Tuesday argued that France had been hit by an “invasion of extremist Islam”.
Several analysts have dismissed the claims that migrants were driving France’s protests.
– Curfews –
The unrest overshadowed demonstrations held Saturday in which more than half a million people marched nationwide against the cost of living. Those rallies followed four weeks of student protests that have closed many schools across France.
Since the rioting — the worst France has seen in years — and ahead of fresh cost-of-living demonstrations planned for Saturday, Macron’s government has warned it will brook no further violence.
Authorities in Paris and several other cities imposed nighttime curfews Monday and Tuesday in areas prone to unrest. Police said the Paris curfew would be renewed Wednesday night.
Macron said he would chair a meeting of ministers and intelligence officials on Thursday to receive a “detailed account” of last weekend’s unrest.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, who on Wednesday met unions organising marches, has vowed a “massive” police deployment for Saturday’s demonstrations.
Following the meeting, the leader of France’s hardline CGT union, Sophie Binet, called for a “new phase” of protests, with strikes early next month.
She said Lecornu had offered “no measure or an acknowledgement of our demands”.
Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said Wednesday that, of the 2,500 people taken into custody during and after the protests, 174 had been jailed. Another 917 had been formally prosecuted, he added.
The convulsion the EU’s second-biggest economy has rattled financial markets already nervous about the country’s growing debt pile and deficit.
The yield on France’s benchmark 10-year bond passed five percent on Wednesday as investors demanded a higher return amid fiscal concerns.
On Friday, the Moody’s ratings agency is expected to lower its grade on France’s public debt.
The country’s political landscape is so fragmented that Lecornu has little chance of winning swift parliamentary consensus for a cost-cutting budget that needs to be adopted before the end of this year.
– Le Pen leads race –
The latest poll, carried out by Ifop in the wake of the riots, suggested Le Pen would win the first round of the presidential election by a wide margin, and far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon emerged as her most likely opponent in the runoff.
France’s neighbours Italy and Belgium were also experiencing similar unrest, on a smaller scale. Italy’s government has ordered 500 troops to Milan to stem street violence there.
In Greece, too, thousands of students protested Wednesday over the high cost of living.
Macron said that “we don’t need a state of emergency” that would permit soldiers to reinforce police against rioters, adding that “we have the means” already at authorities’ disposal, such as curfews.
While the curfews have helped calm the situation, they have disrupted some access to late-night public transport.
“It’s quite disconcerting,” said one Paris commuter who gave only his first name, Louis, when he found his line closed. But “if it can prevent further acts of vandalism… then yes, I think it’s a good thing”, he said.
The Yellow Vest movement behind last weekend’s demonstrations announced Wednesday it plans a march on Saturday from Bastille square in Paris, and follow-up nationwide demonstrations on November 5.
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