Macron rejects migrant claims and warns of misinformation

French President Emmanuel Macron said foreign leaders were repeating misleading claims about France’s unrest and exploiting the crisis for political purposes, while rejecting assertions that migrants and Islamists had driven the violence. Speaking to reporters in Doha on October 21, Macron said there was no visible foreign interference in the protests themselves, but alleged that foreign manipulation of information followed the unrest. He said AI-generated images showed scenes that never occurred in France, and described as false claims that the country had been overrun by migrants and Islamists. Macron did not identify the images or explain how their origins and depictions had been verified. His remarks establish his account of the material, but the reports do not independently substantiate that specific images were AI-generated or depicted events that did not happen. The comments followed statements by U.S. President Donald Trump, who blamed migrants, jihadists and other groups for the violence and urged Macron to close France’s borders. Macron did not name Trump when asked whether his criticism referred to the U.S. president, replying that it applied to others as well....