Despite widespread reporting that the mass protests in France were sparked by students over deteriorating school conditions, President Donald Trump took to social media Tuesday to claim they were instead about Muslims’ purported desire to “take over” the European nation.
The protests began last month in Paris suburbs, led by high school students protesting “overcrowded classrooms, teacher absences, outdated facilities and other grievances,” Euronews reported. The protests soon spread nationwide and have resulted in violent clashes with police. More than 5,000 people have been arrested, 190 students injured, and a 15-year-old boy reportedly lost his hand in clashes with law enforcement.
Trump insisted he knew different, however, blaming the civil unrest squarely on migration and the nation’s Muslim population.
“What’s happening in France is nothing less than out of control mass migration,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “This isn’t about schools, this is about Islam wanting to take over a once great Country!”
Trump has long targeted Muslims in both rhetoric and policy.
During his first presidential campaign, he called for an explicit ban on Muslims entering the country. Shortly after taking office in 2017, he signed an executive order barring travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries, a policy widely dubbed the “Muslim ban.”
In June 2025, Trump revived the policy with a sweeping ban on travelers from 12 countries, including the Muslim-majority nations of Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.