Student protesters in France have a strange new slogan. What does it mean?
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Zane Irwin
- French student protests grew after demands for better schools, with unrest spreading nationwide and at least 24 schools damaged, 8,000 arrests made, and 34 police misconduct claims investigated.
- “Bismillah, c’est les tenebres” became a protest slogan after a Snapchat message, as students mocked suspected police infiltration and wider tensions over race, authority, and online spying.
- The phrase spread to Belgium, Germany, and activist circles, while police actions, including a tear-gas injury to a 14-year-old, helped fuel anger and support for the movement.
AI generated
PARIS – As hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across France in October in support of student protesters, many displayed a somewhat mystifying rallying cry on their cardboard signs: “Bismillah, c’est les tenebres”.
The phrase, a mashup of the Islamic blessing “In the name of God” and the French phrase “It’s the darkness”, may make little sense on the surface.