France's Prime Minister Says Student Anger Is Being Weaponised

France's prime minister has suggested that student anger is being weaponised, the BBC reports, as unions and other protesters prepare to take to the streets as well.

The claim matters for what it does rather than what it establishes. Calling a movement manipulated shifts attention from the grievance to the question of who is steering it, and the same words carry more weight coming from a head of government than from a rival faction. The suggestion also arrives at a moment when the protests are widening: students and unions on the streets together are a broader political object than students alone.

It remains an allegation about motives rather than a demonstrated finding, and one made against people who have their own account of why they are angry.