President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador has delivered a pointed rebuke to Emmanuel Macron’s handling of France’s escalating far-left riots, declaring that the country could restore order ‘in a week’.
‘I have heard people say that France is finished, that it is too late to save it,’ Bukele wrote in French on Sunday, 18 October. Insisting that the country’s greatness could be restored, he pointed to El Salvador’s crackdown on criminal gangs: ‘We overcame a problem a hundred times more serious in one year, without having the resources available to France. France could achieve it in a week.’
Nayib Bukele on X (formerly Twitter): “J’ai entendu dire que la France était finie, qu’il était trop tard pour la sauver.Mais la France est toujours aussi belle, enviable même. Sa grandeur n’a pas disparu, elle ne demande qu’à renaître.Nous avons surmonté en un an un problème cent fois plus grave, sans avoir les… / X”
J’ai entendu dire que la France était finie, qu’il était trop tard pour la sauver.Mais la France est toujours aussi belle, enviable même. Sa grandeur n’a pas disparu, elle ne demande qu’à renaître.Nous avons surmonté en un an un problème cent fois plus grave, sans avoir les…
Since launching his crackdown on criminal gangs in 2022, Bukele has overseen more than 90,000 arrests, while El Salvador’s official homicide rate has fallen to just 1.3 per 100,000 inhabitants. His hard-line security policies have earned him extraordinary popularity, with a CID Gallup survey published last week putting his approval rating at 92 per cent, among the highest worldwide.
Bukele’s law-and-order approach is very similar to that advocated by Marine Le Pen, the presidential candidate of the right-wing National Rally (RN), who addressed supporters on Sunday, stating that France was being held hostage ‘between violence and impotence’. She warned that the deep crisis of authority had become clear in recent weeks and accused political parties, particularly the far-left France Unbowed (LFI), of exploiting legitimate public anger to encourage violence.
RN leader Jordan Bardella also demanded President Macron’s resignation following a weekend of nationwide chaos, urging him to ‘apologize and leave’. On Saturday, 17 October, following weeks of violent riots that began as student protests but were quickly taken over by LFI and Mélenchon’s radical-left proxies, masked militants and rioters rampaged through French cities, setting fire to Limoges’s historic town hall, storming Marseille city hall and toppling a bust of Marianne, and torching Lyon’s tourist office.
In Bordeaux, rioters ransacked the prefect’s official residence, prompting the deployment of elite RAID police units, while police stations were attacked and widespread looting devastated shopping districts in Paris and other major cities. By Sunday, more than 2,400 people had been arrested and around 1,000 police officers injured. The initial student protests began in immigrant-heavy districts of Paris and other major French cities. Palestinian flags have also become a recurring feature of the destructive unrest.
Commentary Donald J. Trump Truth Social Posts On X on X (formerly Twitter): “France is burning! The immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has shattered that once great country. Close your Borders and take control, before it is too late! President DONALD J. TRUMP( TS: Oct 18 2026, 8:11 AM ET )… pic.twitter.com/DioDKjp02s / X”
France is burning! The immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has shattered that once great country. Close your Borders and take control, before it is too late! President DONALD J. TRUMP( TS: Oct 18 2026, 8:11 AM ET )… pic.twitter.com/DioDKjp02s
US President Donald Trump also reacted to the violence, blaming decades of mass immigration and urging Macron to close the country’s borders. Earlier, Trump described the riots as an ‘Islamic takeover’ of France. Vice President JD Vance similarly slammed Western liberals for importing millions of immigrants without considering assimilation and starkly different cultural traits, warning Americans that the same destruction could reach their country.
In a televised address on Sunday, Macron condemned the violence and promised tougher measures against rioters, acknowledging the role of far-left militants and criminal groups. However, he stopped short of declaring a state of emergency despite the unprecedented destruction.
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