Tens of thousands of people marched in cities across France on Tuesday (the 6th) in support of protests by high school students demanding more resources for education, increasing pressure on the government of President Emmanuel Macron, as his term comes to an end.
With students resuming blockades of high schools, large crowds with flags and signs gathered in Marseille, Strasbourg and other cities. The demonstrations show how protests that began at a school in the Paris region in mid-September have grown in scale and become a national movement, the latest in a series that has marked almost ten years of Macron in power.
“The only response they have received so far has been repression,” said Sigrid Gerardin, a teacher at a high school in Paris. The Interior Ministry estimated that 86,000 people participated in protests outside the capital on Tuesday morning, while more protesters gathered in Paris for a protest planned for the afternoon.
More than two weeks of class boycotts and school blockades, coupled with a police response that resulted in more than 6,100 arrests—mostly of minors—have become a focal point of tension at the start of the presidential campaign. Felix Barney, a university student, described the police action as disproportionate. “It makes no sense to strike at minors,” he said.
The protests by adolescents gained momentum amid broader discontent in the country. The complaints range from immediate difficulties, such as fuel prices that have surged with the war in Iran, to structural concerns about limits to public spending, rising poverty and income and wealth inequality under Macron, who cannot run for a third consecutive term. In this context, the assessment that a lack of resources in education threatens the future of young people has found receptivity. In a Paris school, a hand-written poster pinned to a fence read: “You say ‘the youth are the future,’ so listen to us.”
At Hélène Boucher High School, in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, protesters used trash cans and bicycles to raise an improvised barricade. As in hundreds of cases across the country, the school was closed. Authorities began suspending activities in high schools last week in an effort to cool the protests after episodes of vandalism and the rising number of injuries among staff, students and police. According to the Ministry of Education, classes were wholly or partially suspended this Tuesday in 891 schools.
Facing accusations that it was ignoring the protesters, the ministry launched an online portal for students to report, anonymously, the difficulties faced in schools and the changes they would like to see.
The Interior Minister, Laurent Nunez, defended the police methods used against students, despite the growing number of serious injuries attributed to riot-control weapons. The most recent case cited was that of a 15-year-old who lost a hand on Monday in an incident involving a stun grenade. Nunez said the response was proportionate in “almost all cases.” He also said that at times the protests turned into riots requiring intervention, and that 715 police officers were injured.
In Paris, parents and other adults stood between protesters and police. “They are our children. Teachers, parents, federations, we all share the same goal: to protect children’s rights, and it is a legitimate right to protest and to make demands,” said Emilia Sichili Suriam, a member of a parents’ association.
The protesters cite a range of issues, highlighting the lack of resources and opportunities in schools in poorer areas, despite the French national motto, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.” Students have drawn attention to deteriorating classrooms lacking basic items such as desks and chairs, which become stifling in the summer due to a lack of air conditioning and, in some cases, with rodent infestations. Other frequent complaints include a shortage of staff and an exhausting workload, as the number of mandatory classroom hours in French high schools is among the highest in Europe. Source: Associated Press.
*Content translated with the aid of Artificial Intelligence, reviewed and edited by the Broadcast editorial team, the real-time news system of Grupo Estado.
