Macron rejects foreign claims about France unrest

French President Emmanuel Macron criticized foreign leaders for comments linking France’s recent unrest to migration and extremist Islam, saying they had repeated false claims and images generated by artificial intelligence. He spoke to reporters in Doha on Wednesday, October 21, as authorities prepared for further protests over the cost of living this weekend. Macron said images circulated online depicted scenes that had never occurred in France. He also rejected claims that the country had been overrun by migrants and Islamists. Those assertions, he said, were false. The reports did not independently verify the images or establish that the leaders he criticized had seen or relied on them. Macron did not name the leaders in his remarks, but appeared to refer to U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump had linked events in France to immigration, while Netanyahu had described France as facing an invasion of extremist Islam, according to reports. Macron said political figures campaigning in their own countries were repeating material that portrayed France negatively. At the same time, Macron distinguished foreign manipulation of...