France summoned Iran’s ambassador on Wednesday over what foreign ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux described as an Iranian disinformation campaign targeting France’s secondary school student protest movement.
The envoy was told of the “absolutely unacceptable” nature of false content disseminated online by official Iranian foreign ministry accounts, Confavreux said in a statement, adding that Tehran’s October 6 summons of the French ambassador was baseless.
“These undignified provocations must cease,” he said.
Iran on Tuesday summoned France’s envoy in Tehran over the ongoing student protests, accusing Paris of the “violent treatment” of demonstrators and of extensive human rights violations, according to Iranian state media.
The protests, which involved clashes with hooded and masked individuals, resulted in the arrest of hundreds of people.
US President Donald Trump said in a Truth post on Tuesday that mass migration and Islam were to blame for the massive protests occurring in France.
“What’s happening in France is nothing less than out of control mass migration,” said the president.
“This isn’t about schools, this is about Islam wanting to take over a once great Country!”
The students’ demands reportedly do not concern religion or immigration, but focus instead on understaffing and lack of funding. Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party has not linked the protests to France’s migration policy.
In Marseille and Nantes, protesters held up handmade signs bearing phrases such as “The state has killed national education.” In Toulouse, parents linked arms at the front of a march through the city.