‘France has fallen’: Far-right figures fuel Islamophobic claims with false student protest videos

France’s student protests have become the target of a wave of false and misleading videos shared by far-right figures, including Alex Jones and Tommy Robinson. Old footage and unrelated videos have been shared to portray the demonstrations as evidence of an “anti-white” or Islamist uprising linked to uncontrolled immigration. The protests are over school conditions, including large class sizes, teacher shortages and poor facilities, not immigration. Vedika Bahl fact-checks in Truth or Fake.

Student protests and school blockades in France are entering their third week, with demonstrations over high school conditions also seeing violence between demonstrators and riot police.

But alongside the unrest, a wave of false and misleading videos has been circulating online, shared by far-right figures in the US and UK to promote claims about immigration and social unrest in France.

Videos showing fires, clashes and large crowds have been presented as evidence of an immigration-fuelled "civil war,"  even when the footage is old or unrelated to the current demonstrations.

Alex Jones pushes ‘anti-white civil war’ claim

In the US, far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has shared lengthy video compilations about the protests, using them to promote an Islamophobic narrative.

Jones has claimed that France is experiencing an “anti-white civil war”, with “dead bodies everywhere”. There is no evidence to support those claims. There has been no deaths reported to dates in the current protests, and the demonstrations are centred on concerns over the state of France’s education system, including large class sizes, teacher shortages and poor school conditions, not immigration.

Jones uses a series of videos to illustrate his claims about supposed immigrant violence. But some of the footage predates the current protests by years. For example, one of his video compilations begins with footage of a burning bus, but it's video of a school bus that caught fire in the southern French city of Nîmes in 2022, with no casualties reported. It's thus being used out of context to push Jones' narrative.

Jones has also claimed that Catholic institutions and clergy are being targeted during the protests. In one video, he says he has seen "at least a dozen videos of Catholic priests being set on fire"

We found no evidence supporting these claims in connection with the current student protests.

The videos used by Jones to support his wider narrative of an “anti-white” uprising are also not evidence of an organised campaign against Catholic institutions or clergy.

Tommy Robinson shares old protest footage

Similar claims have been circulating in the UK. Far-right activist Tommy Robinson has shared footage of unrest in France while promoting an anti-immigration message.

In one post, Robinson described a video as evidence of a “green/Islamic holy alliance” spreading through Western Europe and the United States, claiming that what is happening in France would spread to other countries.

But the footage is not new. The video shows aftermath of a protest in Paris and has been circulating online since 2022. It therefore cannot be used as evidence of the current student demonstrations.

Robinson has also posted about what he calls "occupied France,"  sharing footage showing violence and looting during recent demonstrations.Some of this footage is genuine and does show incidents linked to the current protests. But the fact that the footage is authentic does not substantiate the broader claims about immigration being made, and these videos are being misused to create a racist and xenophobic narrative.

‘France has fallen’ video is from a football celebration

Other anti-immigration accounts have also used genuine images from France but stripped them of their original context. One widely shared video was captioned simply: "France has fallen".

The footage, which has been viewed millions of times, shows smoke around the Eiffel Tower and large crowds gathering in the streets, but was filmed in May, when Paris Saint-Germain fans gathered to celebrate the club’s Champions League victory.