Following the worst riots in a long time, the French government and the EU claim that Russian trolls, American MAGAaccounts and Israeli influencers are spreading ‘hostile narratives’ by linking the violence to uncontrolled immigration and ‘radical’ Islam*.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has referred to this as ‘hostile narratives’ – whilst official French figures simultaneously show an overwhelming over-representation of people without French passports amongst those imprisoned during the unrest. The fact that the focus is nevertheless on disinformation is criticised as an attempt to divert attention away from real demographic and integration-related patterns.
Contradicts itself
The ‘largely peaceful’ demonstrations escalated particularly on 17–18 October 2026. There were reports of widespread looting, fires and clashes with the police. Hundreds of police officers, gendarmes and firefighters were injured, and shops were ransacked and/or stripped bare.
According to an internal EU assessment, a Russian network known as ‘Operation Overload’ allegedly attempted to exploit the situation. The network is said to have circulated videos and passed them off as originating from Western media, including claims that migrants had raped demonstrators or that terrorist attacks were imminent. The aim is said to have been to portray the French authorities as weak and increasingly authoritarian.
A separate assessment by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also said to have found that accounts linked to Israel and the American MAGA movement were spreading similar links between the riots, radical Islam and migration.
Over-representation of immigrants among ‘French citizens’
French authorities have published profiles of those imprisoned following the riots. Among the first 186–217 people who were remanded in custody or sentenced, around 70 per cent were French nationals. The remaining 29–30 per cent were foreign nationals.
Foreign nationals make up around nine per cent of the population in France. Their proportion amongst the prison population was therefore around three times higher than their share of the population. Among foreign convicts and remand prisoners, a large proportion came from the Maghreb countries of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
Further analyses have examined first names amongst a sample of the ‘French’ citizens who were brought before the courts. Of 70 people, 75 per cent had Arab-Muslim or African first names, which indicates a strong over-representation of people with an immigrant background even amongst the ‘French citizens’.
SHOCKING VIRAL VIDEO: Rioters performing namaz before looting shops in France pic.twitter.com/3IfpLe1Wkt
— Megh Updates 🚨™ (@MeghUpdates) 19 October 2026
* Erdogan: ‘There is only one Islam.’
