Why are French protesters chanting ‘Bismillah, c’est les ténèbres’?

As violent protests roil France, bringing together students demanding better educational conditions and groups rejecting the high cost of living, one chant has become an improbable rallying cry: “Bismillah, c’est les ténèbres”. The unofficial slogan does not mean much taken literally, but students have channelled a whole array of grievances that lie at the heart of the protest movement into this nonsensical expression. It is meant to mock racial stereotyping by the police. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets nationwide over the weekend, in the largest mobilisation since protests over education reforms and rising prices began last month.