PARIS — France’s shock at the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sexual assault charges has turned among some to suspicion and anger, with his defenders questioning the initial New York police account and speculating about entrapment, and many others characterizing the photos of the handcuffed suspect as insulting and unfair.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn, 62, was arrested on charges of attempted rape and illegal imprisonment of a chambermaid in a French-owned hotel in Midtown Manhattan, the Sofitel, and was arraigned on Monday in New York.

The charges against a man thought to have had the best chance of becoming France’s next president in elections only a year away, and who is the prominent managing director of the International Monetary Fund, have exploded most political assumptions here.

On Tuesday, the opposition Socialists, who had been widely expected to choose Mr. Strauss-Kahn as their candidate against President Nicolas Sarkozy, planned to debate their plans for the future. But the party leader, Martine Aubry, declined to say whether she would contest the presidential primary when the deadline for nominations expires in July. “We have a timetable and today is not the moment,” she told France Info radio. “We are not changing anything in our timetable.” She also said Mr. Strauss-Kahn must be seen as innocent unless proven not to be.