Continued from P1

US President Donald Trump has used the violence to rally his political supporters, making unsubstantiated claims that Muslim migrants are responsible for the unrest, and urging Macron to “close your borders and take control before it is too late!”

Macron responded by saying there “has been foreign manipulation of information in the aftermath” of the looting in Paris and other French cities last weekend. “And that has led to comments that are as unacceptable as they are stupid, from many people, including foreign leaders,” he said. Asked by a reporter if he was referring to Trump, Macron replied: “Among others.”

He added that there have been “AI-generated images depicting scenes that never actually happened in France. We’ve had people claiming that we were invaded by hordes of migrants and Islamists, which is completely false.” Macron did not specify which AI-generated images he was referring to, nor how he knew the content was false. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said his office can provide the countries concerned with the necessary clarification, “to help them avoid spreading or amplifying false information and making baseless claims on social media.” Macron and Trump once enjoyed a good relationship, but Trump regularly mocks the French president in his public speeches.

“The fact is, all the people who are speaking ill of our country right now are people who don’t love our country,” Macron said. “So those people really bother me.” “When I see leaders who are in the middle of election campaigns, whether in the region or on the other side of the Atlantic - who sometimes naively repeat AI-generated content or spread narratives that certain circles are clearly trying to promote about what happened in France - they’re using our country for their own political campaigns,” said Macron.