Trump weighs in as France’s school protests over education funding spread nationwide
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the government and school authorities needed to listen to students and address their concerns. He also condemned what he called “ultra violence” around schools and rejected allegations of racism in the police response as a “lie”.
More than 266,000 people took part in nationwide demonstrations on Tuesday, including 56,000 in Paris, according to France’s Interior Ministry.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday reacted to growing student protests in France, claiming the demonstrations reflected “mass migration” and saying they were about “Islam wanting to take over” the country. The protests, which began at a high school in the Paris region in mid-September, have spread across the country as students demand more funding for education. Felix Barney, a university student, criticised the police response as disproportionate, saying it doesn’t make “any sense to hit minors. You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.
Some student groups have called for further protests on Thursday.