US President Donald Trump has blamed France's nationwide student protests on immigration and Islam, claiming the unrest over schools is in fact about "Islam wanting to take over a once great country" — a remark that has drawn sharp reactions from French political figures and supporters of his view alike.
Trump's comments came in a post on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, as French students blocked the entrances to hundreds of high schools and around 250,000 demonstrators marched nationwide, with sporadic clashes against police.
What Trump said about the France protests
"What's happening in France is nothing less than out of control mass migration. This isn't about schools, this is about Islam wanting to take over a once great Country!" Trump wrote on Truth Social, according to reporting by CNN, Al Jazeera and Fox News.
Trump and his administration have repeatedly blamed European social issues on migration, urging Europe to shut its borders. Multiple outlets reporting on the post noted he offered no evidence connecting the student movement to migration or Islam.
Why French students are protesting
The protests began on September 21, 2026, at the Saint-Exupéry high school in a Paris suburb, where pupils joined teachers to demand more staff and resources. The movement spread nationwide anyway: students blockaded school entrances, and within days similar scenes were reported from Lille in the north to Marseille in the south.
Students and teachers point to long-standing grievances — overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages, and dilapidated buildings — with education unions and student leader Manès Nadel calling it "an unprecedented number of schools" involved. French officials say more than 100 high schools have been damaged since the movement began, with trash cans and school desks set alight in some cities.
France's Interior Ministry says around 6,100 people have been arrested since the protests began, the majority minors, according to Reuters. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has ordered ministers to address the students' demands by the end of October.
A 15-year-old loses a hand in Lens
On Monday, October 5, a 15-year-old student lost his hand in the northern city of Lens when a police stun grenade exploded near the Auguste-Béhal vocational high school. Pas-de-Calais prefect François-Xavier Lauch said investigators have not yet established whether the teenager picked up the grenade or it landed on him, and the case has been referred to police internal affairs.
Education Minister Édouard Geffray said about 190 students have been injured since the protests began, and 78 education staff have been hurt. Authorities also report around 715 police officers injured. The movement has also crossed the border into French-speaking Belgium, where about 1,000 students clashed with police in Liège.
Reactions to Trump's remarks
The remarks were defended by Trump allies. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told Fox News Digital that unchecked immigration and European policy failures had fueled frustration, adding, "President Trump has brought that to light." Trump supporters in the MAGA movement have shared videos of the French unrest ahead of the U.S. midterm elections next month, with commentator Glenn Beck calling the riots "a clear warning to the rest of the West."
Critics pushed back. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, presidential candidate for France Unbowed, accused Marine Le Pen of giving Trump "a fantasized account of the causes of the violence." Green presidential candidate Marine Tondelier condemned "all the violence" and called on the government to speak out when police actions are unacceptable. Advocates quoted by Al Jazeera said such statements fuel Islamophobic discourse ahead of the U.S. midterm polls.
President Emmanuel Macron has called a crisis meeting at the Élysée Palace as the unrest continues, while unions and rights groups have accused police of using disproportionate force against minors.
The takeaway: France's student movement remains fundamentally about schools — crowded classrooms, missing teachers, and crumbling buildings — but Trump's framing has turned it into an international political flashpoint. Whether the unrest subsides or deepens will depend on how the French government responds to the students' demands before the end of October.
Watch: France Student Protests Escalate: 500 Schools Closed, 5,000 Arrested — a news video report on the third week of France's student protests, with hundreds of schools shut and thousands arrested.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Hitman (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sources
- CNN: Unprecedented student protests are rocking France. Here's why they're angry
- Al Jazeera: France suspends high school classes as protesters clash with police
- The Times: France protests latest — riot police clash with thousands of students
- Fox News: Trump, Waltz link France riots to mass immigration as thousands are arrested