Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
US President Donald Trump has seized on France’s growing high school protest movement to reiterate his long-running criticism of migration, saying the unrest is ultimately about Islam taking over the country rather than the schools. His comments came as more than a quarter of a million people took to the streets across France on Tuesday.
In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, the US President blamed uncontrolled migration for the unrest. He wrote: “What’s happening in France is nothing less than out of control mass migration. This isn’t about schools, this is about Islam wanting to take over a once great Country!”
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France witnessed its biggest day of school protests since the movement began in September, with students, teachers and parents taking to the streets over deteriorating school conditions, staff shortages and inadequate funding.
TRUMP RECASTS FRANCE’S SCHOOL CRISIS
French students have spent weeks blocking school entrances and demanding improvements to the country’s education system. The protests began in poorer suburbs around Paris before spreading nationwide, putting further pressure on President Emmanuel Macron’s government as it faces mounting economic challenges.
Trump, however, rejected the idea that the unrest was primarily about education.
His comments fit into an argument he and his administration have repeatedly made about Europe, where migration has become a major issue for right-wing movements. Trump has frequently criticised European governments over immigration and warned that uncontrolled migration could undermine Western societies.
The timing is also significant in the US. With the midterm elections approaching next month, Republicans have continued to make immigration a major campaign issue while seeking to mobilise Trump’s conservative base. Voices within the MAGA movement have also seized on the French unrest. Trump ally Glenn Beck said on Monday that the “riots in France are a clear warning to the rest of the West”.
Republicans have increasingly focused their campaign messaging on migration and other culture-war issues amid concerns over Trump’s popularity and the fallout from the Iran war.
FRANCE’S SCHOOL PROTESTS
On Tuesday, thousands of students, teachers and parents marched across French cities demanding better-funded and better-maintained schools.
The demonstrations were largely peaceful in several areas. In Marseille and Nantes, protesters carried signs reading, “The state has killed national education”, while parents in Toulouse linked arms at the front of a march.
But tensions rose elsewhere.
In Strasbourg, Lyon and Rennes, some protesters set fires and threw projectiles, prompting police to respond with tear gas. The clashes added a more volatile edge to a movement that began with complaints about classrooms, teachers and school infrastructure.
The French government has deployed riot police as the demonstrations have spread. Rights groups, student organisations and parents have criticised the police response, accusing authorities of using disproportionate force, particularly against minors.
The government, meanwhile, has argued that outside groups and violent elements have increasingly taken over parts of the movement, shifting the focus away from education.
THOUSANDS OF SCHOOLS AFFECTED
The extent of the disruption remained contested, with unions and the government offering sharply different estimates. The Union Syndicale Lyceenne, one of the main groups organising the protests, said around 2,000 high schools had been shut across France and claimed universities had also joined the mobilisation.
The education ministry put the figure considerably lower, saying classes had been fully or partially suspended at 891 schools. The High School Students Union said more than half of France’s high schools were either blockaded or expected to close.
Some local education authorities moved classes online to keep lessons running.
Behind the demonstrations are complaints that go well beyond wages or classroom funding. Students and parents have raised concerns about leaking roofs, deteriorating buildings, staff shortages and poor conditions in schools, including reports of rat infestations. The government has promised measures to address some of those problems, but frustration has continued to build.
– Ends
With inputs from agenies
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
