President Trump warned Tuesday that the massive riots seen over the weekend in France — where organizers are promising even bigger demonstrations on Saturday — are “a full-on revolution” born out of overzealous immigration that risks destabilizing all of Europe.
The president delivered the remarks amid signs that the chaos in France shows signs of spreading across Europe, with reports of demonstrators clashing with police in Belgium, Italy, Albania and elsewhere.
Images of the violence and looting have shocked the globe — and Mr. Trump, who said he has never seen anything like it.
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“They have to straighten out their act. Otherwise, there won’t be a Europe left,” the president said Tuesday in the Oval Office while taking questions from reporters during an event on combating fraud. “That was a full-on revolution.”
Reasons for the riots have been debated, but Mr. Trump said that, to him, it comes back to the type of immigrants who have come to France in recent decades.
He said they have no incentive not to upend things.
“They don’t like the buildings, they don’t like the art, they don’t like anything about the country, and they don’t like the people,” he said.
He declined to say whether he would endorse Marine Le Pen in next year’s French presidential election. She is the parliamentary leader of the right-wing National Rally party — where Jordan Bardella has served as party president since 2021 — and has argued for immigration controls for years.
Mr. Trump did say Ms. Le Pen was “badly treated” by her political system in past elections.
Left-wing groups backing the huge protests say they plan to fill the nation’s streets again on Saturday.
French officials, who reported a sudden quiet Tuesday after imposing localized curfews, have pledged a massive police and military response. The Interior Ministry, in a note, asked prefects to ban all demonstrations likely to “disturb public order” Saturday.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu told the National Assembly that the response to last weekend was “too static and not mobile enough.”
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez reported that French police had arrested about 2,400 people during the protests that broke out Saturday in several cities, with business and municipal losses estimated in the tens of millions of euros from widespread looting and arson. Reports also cited social media videos of men waving foreign flags at the protests.
Demonstrations across the continent led to widespread property damage, emergency curfews and police clashes. Investigations found that adult communist and pro-Palestinian activist groups amplified the weekend’s activities in France, building on school walkouts that started last month.
Reports indicated that only 1 in 3 groups was a student or youth organization, including communist youth groups and a Muslim student association. The rest consisted of adult-led communist cells, labor unions, leftist political parties, revolutionary groups and propaganda machines.
Adult French groups involved in the protests include the leftist Yellow Vests and the political party France Unbowed.
Multiple media reports said a Yellow Vest coordination group is now promoting this Saturday’s encore demonstration as “acte II” — French for “Act II.”
A Fox News investigation also found support for protesters coming from Tricontinental, CodePink and BreakThrough News.
Other protests in Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Albania and Italy are continuing, with additional marches and actions planned for upcoming weeks.
U.S. and Albanian officials have attributed the unrest to foreign radicals. Others, including the Qatar-based news outlet Al Jazeera, say the protests are uncoordinated.
In a social media post Monday night, Mr. Trump urged French President Emmanuel Macron and other European leaders to “close their borders” immediately.
Far-left and conservative French politicians have criticized the response of Mr. Macron, a centrist who proceeded Tuesday with a planned three-day tour of the Persian Gulf region.
Many in Europe have struggled with rising prices and fewer job opportunities since the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions interrupted the global economy.
Specific issues flagged in the European protests include high rents, unaffordable housing, teacher shortages, underfunded schools, rising consumer prices, government budget cuts and surging fuel and energy costs.
Protests against the Albanian government entered their eighth day Tuesday as the capital city of Tirana remained a violent battleground between masked demonstrators and riot police.
Protesters have demanded the resignation of left-leaning Prime Minister Edi Rama. On Tuesday, he accused “foreign actors” of stoking the protests, building on earlier comments blaming Russia and Iran.
“This has now been recognized and is becoming a major issue across Europe,” Mr. Rama said in a statement broadcast live while visiting education officials, according to an Agence France-Presse report.
The Italian Cabinet is deploying additional troops to quell similar unrest in Milan. Italian authorities said they detained 271 young people there over the weekend after rioters looted stores and incited violent confrontations with police.
“If you break it, you pay for it,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a video Tuesday, telling Italian parents they would foot the bill for damage their children caused.
In Lisbon, Portugal’s capital, officials cleared protest tents in a predawn raid. A similar tent encampment remained open in Madrid, where teachers were on strike and protesters demanded cheaper housing.
“The situation does not allow for the normal development of institutional activity,” Madrid’s regional government said Tuesday in a statement, as it considered relocating officials away from the encampment.
In Belgium, police detained 150 people and dispersed heavy crowds of rioters from Brussels with tear gas and water cannons. Similar riots had led officials in the eastern city of Liege to ban large gatherings.
Numerous injuries to police and protesters have been documented in reports emerging from Albania, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Portugal.
A European Commission spokesperson warned Monday against treating all protesters like rioters.
Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, condemned all violent protest-related activities in Albania, Belgium, France, Italy and Portugal.
“The best and only way forward is inclusive and safe dialogue,” he said Tuesday in a statement.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
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