Trump calls French student protests 'out of control immigration and Islam issues'

“It’s not a school problem,” claims… AFP “Trump attempts to unite the global right”

(Washington = Yonhap News) Correspondent Hong Jeong-gyu = U.S. President Donald Trump claimed on the 6th (local time) that the large-scale student protests taking place in France were due to immigrants.

President Trump said on the social media platform TruthSocial that day, “What is happening in France is none other than massive, out-of-control immigration.”

“This is not about the school,” he said. “This is a problem of Islam trying to take over a once great country (France),” he added.

In France, protests by high school students that began in the middle of last month have spread across the country, leading to hundreds of schools being closed and more than 5,000 protesting students being arrested.

Local media reported that students were protesting against the poor educational environment, including chronic teacher shortages, overcrowded classes, and outdated school facilities, and demanding environmental improvements such as expansion of educational personnel and budget.

President Trump, who implements anti-immigration policies in the United States, has criticized European countries such as France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain for indiscriminately accepting immigrants from the Middle East and Africa.

Last July, President Trump pointed out that the migrant invasion of Spain's Ceuta region, which borders North Africa, was due to lukewarm border and immigration policies, saying it was "hundreds of thousands of people invading one country."

AFP news agency pointed out that President Trump's remarks linking the French protests to the immigration issue were an attempt to rally the global right wing ahead of his country's midterm elections.