Trump Links France’s School Protests to Migration as Demonstrations Spread

More than a quarter of a million people demonstrated across France on Tuesday as a nationwide school protest movement entered its biggest day since beginning in September. The mobilisation has focused on deteriorating school conditions, staff shortages and inadequate funding, but US President Donald Trump said the unrest was instead driven by mass migration and Islam. In a post on Truth Social, Trump described the situation as the result of “out of control mass migration” and said the protests were not about schools but about Islam seeking to take over France.

He offered no evidence for the claim, according to Punch Nigeria, while India Today reported that he rejected the idea that education was the movement’s primary cause. The protests began with students blocking entrances to high schools, initially in poorer suburbs around Paris, before spreading nationwide. Students, teachers and parents have demanded better-maintained and better-funded schools, citing staff shortages, inadequate facilities, leaking roofs and deteriorating buildings.

Reports also referred to complaints about poor conditions including rat infestations. The scale of disruption remains disputed. The Union Syndicale Lyceenne, one of the main organising groups, said about 2,000 high schools had been shut and claimed universities had joined the mobilisation.

France’s education ministry gave a lower figure, saying classes had been fully or partially suspended at 891 schools. The High School Students Union said more than half of the country’s high schools were blockaded or expected to close, while some local authorities shifted lessons online. Much of Tuesday’s activity was described as peaceful.

In Marseille and Nantes, protesters carried signs accusing the state of abandoning national education, while parents in Toulouse formed a line at the front of a march. But confrontations were reported in Strasbourg, Lyon and Rennes, where some demonstrators set fires and threw projectiles. Police responded with tear gas.

The French government has deployed riot police as blockades spread. Rights groups, student organisations and parents have accused authorities of using excessive force, particularly against minors. The government has countered that outside groups and violent participants have taken over parts of the movement and shifted attention away from education.

Trump’s intervention places the French unrest within a broader political message used by him and his allies about migration and the future of Europe. With US midterm elections due next month, Republicans have made immigration and other cultural issues central to their campaign to mobilise conservative voters, amid concerns about Trump’s popularity, the cost of living and the fallout from the Iran war. Figures associated with Trump’s Make America Great Again movement had promoted footage of the French protests before his post.

Trump ally Glenn Beck called the unrest a warning to the West, while commentator Dave Rubin shared video from a French train station and said similar events could reach the United States if Democrats returned to power. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot pushed back against outside interpretations, comparing Trump’s reaction with commentary from Iran and Israel. He said French diplomatic missions were working to present France’s own account rather than allowing other governments to define the protests.

Punch Nigeria reported that no connection had been established between the student movement and religious or identity-based demands.