Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Image caption, Protesters rallied in Lille along with other cities across the country

By Patrick Jackson Marco Silva and Thomas Copeland BBC Verify

French President Emmanuel Macron has accused foreign leaders of exploiting the riots which erupted across the country on Saturday for electoral purposes.

Without naming them, he said they were campaigning for forthcoming elections "at France's expense" with their comments on the violence, which erupted on the fringe of cost-of-living protests.

Speaking on a visit to the Middle East, he referred to them as "leaders who are in campaign mode, whether here in the region or on the other side of the Atlantic".

It was an apparent swipe at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces parliamentary elections next week, and US President Donald Trump, for whom mid-term polls fall next month.

Macron said the unnamed leaders had been influenced by fake videos generated by AI about the riots.

Nearly 150 people have been jailed…