Debate grows in France over ethnic framing of 17 October looting

PARIS — A debate has grown in France over how to describe the people behind the looting and rioting that followed the 17 October protests, according to reports published on 20 October 2026. Far-right politicians in France and the United States linked the violence to immigration. Officials and some commentators rejected that link.

Jordan Bardella, leader of the National Rally party, said the unrest showed the failure of government policy on immigration and security. He said groups of immigrants had not integrated into French society and that social separation had worsened in deprived neighbourhoods. He called on President Emmanuel Macron to apologise and resign, according to BBC News Arabic.

Bardella said he recognised that some protesters had legitimate social demands. He still tied the violence to immigration policy, the report said.

US President Donald Trump made similar claims. In a post on Truth Social, he said that "France is burning" and that immigration from "a totally different world" had torn the country apart. He urged France to close its borders. At a campaign event in Kentucky, he said student protests in France showed immigration was "out of control", according to BBC News Arabic. The same report quoted him describing Islam as attempting to "control" the country. Trump's remarks have not been confirmed by French authorities.

French officials gave a different account. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez blamed "subversive elements" from far-left groups, supported by criminals and offenders, the BBC reported. They said these people had exploited protests by citizens, students, unions and civil society groups over school conditions and the cost of living. According to the BBC, French authorities and police said there was no direct link between immigrants and the sabotage.

Guillaume Farde, a police and justice consultant for TF1 and LCI, also rejected the framing. According to a summary published by Oumma on 20 October, Farde said people of immigrant origin took part in the looting, but others of immigrant origin wore police uniforms and arrested them. He warned against "ethnicising" the debate and said people should answer for their actions, not their origins. Oumma is a French website that campaigns on Muslim and minority issues, and its summary was not checked against the full interview.

It is not clear from the sources how many people took part in the looting or how many were arrested. The BBC said observers described the protests as a student movement over poor school buildings, a lack of teachers and missing heating and cooling in classrooms. It said the movement later grew to include unions and people affected by rising living costs and fuel prices. The BBC said more than half a million people had joined the protests at their peak. The sources do not give a date for that peak or an independent count.

Background

The BBC reported that the protests began about two weeks before its report of 20 October. They spread to several large cities and turned into rioting, arson and looting. The government had cut public spending and frozen civil service pay to reduce the budget deficit, the BBC said, and this was among the grievances cited by protesters and unions.

The debate over the source of the violence has drawn on earlier arguments in France about immigration, integration and security. Far-right parties have used such arguments in past campaigns. Bardella's party is preparing for a presidential election expected next year, according to the BBC.