Even before the smoke had cleared over France’s scarred city centers, the far right had found its favorite target to pin the blame on.
Nationalist commentators and online accounts rushed to allege that migrants were behind the looting and arson that followed the weekend’s nationwide protests, and that immigration had set the country alight
The evidence does not support the claim. French authorities and police have not linked immigrants to the rioting. Instead, they have blamed “insurrectionist elements from radical far-left groups, joined by numerous criminals.” Fact-checkers reached the same conclusion, finding that the available evidence does not show immigration caused the protests
What Actually Happened
The unrest grew out of a mass movement. Organizers put turnout at about 800,000, with demonstrators answering calls from a labor union, student organizations, and activists hoping to revive the “yellow vest” movement. That is hardly a migrant-led uprising.
Even the political camp most closely tied to the marches has distanced itself from the violence. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the left-wing leader who joined the Paris march, insisted that “those who share our fight have no business in looting or destruction.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, for her part, aimed her fire at the government, describing it as “exhausted, disoriented,” and powerless. Across the political spectrum, the argument in France is about the state’s failures, not about who arrived in the country.
The Roots of the Anger
The protests began on September 28, driven by rising living costs and poor conditions in schools. Students complained of a shortage of professors and “dilapidated buildings,” and accused the government of trying to push young people out of higher education.
Petrol, energy, and food prices have spiked in recent months. With a presidential election about six months away, anger over living standards and crumbling public services has been building.
On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of mainly peaceful demonstrators took to the streets. The mood turned when groups of black-clad, masked activists and vandals appeared. An estimated 1,500 shops and businesses were looted or destroyed, and the interior ministry says about 1,000 police officers were injured, seven of them seriously.
The Bottom Line
Far-right commentators blamed migrants for the violent unrest in France, but police and fact-checkers say the evidence does not support that claim. The protests were driven by rising living costs and poor school conditions, drawing hundreds of thousands of demonstrators. Violence was blamed on far-left radicals and criminals, not immigrants. The unrest comes six months before a presidential election, with anger over living standards building across the country.
My Opinion
The far right did not need evidence. It needed a villain. Within hours of the first fire, nationalist commentators were blaming migrants for the chaos. It did not matter that the protests were organized by labor unions and student groups. It did not matter that the interior ministry blamed far-left radicals and criminals. It did not matter that fact-checkers found no link between immigration and the violence. The narrative was already set.
This is how the far right operates. It takes a genuine crisis — the cost of living, crumbling schools, a government that has lost control — and hijacks it. Instead of asking why hundreds of thousands of people are in the streets, it asks who to blame. The answer is always the same: migrants, foreigners, the other.
Marine Le Pen did not blame migrants this time. She blamed the government. That is a telling shift. Even she knows the evidence does not support the nativist narrative. But her supporters online did not get the memo. They were too busy spreading lies.
