France is in the middle of its most violent unrest in years, and the argument over who is to blame has crossed the Atlantic. More than 2,700 people have been taken into police custody since last Saturday. A Paris court has thrown out a police ban on a march. And President Emmanuel Macron has accused foreign leaders, among them Donald Trump, of exploiting the crisis for their own politics.

The numbers and the violence

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Thursday that 2,700 people had been detained since Saturday in connection with riots and looting. The unrest followed a weekend in which groups of masked youths clashed with police, looted shops and set cars alight in Paris and other cities.

The protests began in September, with demands over education funding and the soaring cost of living, and grew into wider anti-government demonstrations. French officials say far-left groups are fuelling the violence. Macron blamed “ultra-left groups whose aim is to bring down the Republic”, along with criminals who came to loot.

A court lifts the Paris ban

On Thursday, the Paris police prefecture banned protests in key parts of the city until 8 pm, citing organisers’ “inability to prevent violence and vandalism”. Similar bans applied in Lyon, Lille and Grenoble.

Organisers challenged the Paris ban, and said an administrative court overturned it. The ruling was not immediately made public. Thousands then flooded the streets of the capital. The organisers signed a police document agreeing that the protest would remain stationary because of the risk of violence.

The episode has raised a constitutional question. The right to demonstrate is protected in France, and some see the bans as an infringement of it.

The weekend crackdown

Macron said after a security meeting at the Élysée Palace that the government will ban protests requested by “individuals or groups with no legitimate authority”. He said approved demonstrations led by organised groups such as unions would have to take alternative routes outside city centres to protect businesses.

Lyon and Marseille have banned all protests on Saturday. The Louvre, Orsay and Picasso museums in Paris will stay closed that day, and shopkeepers have been boarding up windows. Reports say curfews have also been imposed in parts of some cities. Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon claimed that the army, not the police, would be guarding buildings on Saturday, a claim I could not verify.

Macron versus Trump

The row with Washington began on Wednesday, when Macron, speaking in Qatar, said foreign leaders “on the other side of the Atlantic” were trying to exploit France’s tense social climate. He called the comments “unacceptable and even stupid”. Asked whether he was referring to Trump, he answered: “Among others.”

Trump has used the violence to rally his supporters at home ahead of America’s midterm elections, making unsubstantiated claims that Muslim migrants are responsible and urging Macron to “close your borders and take control before it is too late!” He has also backed French far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

Macron also spoke of “foreign manipulation of information”, including AI-generated images of scenes that, he said, never happened in France. He did not specify which images. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the ministry can give countries concerned the clarification they need to avoid amplifying false claims. “All the people who are speaking ill of our country right now are people who don’t love our country,” Macron said.

Why it matters

The unrest has damaged France’s image abroad and rattled financial markets, six months before presidential elections. Le Pen is reported to lead early polling. The government is also trying to keep the peace with the unions, and the prime minister has been meeting union leaders.

What to watch

How many people turn out on Saturday and whether the bans hold, whether more courts overturn prohibitions, how the unions respond to the rerouting order, and whether the transatlantic exchange escalates.

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