After a weekend lull, French riot police fired tear gas at crowds in Paris and elsewhere in the country on Tuesday, as more than a quarter of a million people mobilised across the nation, according to government figures, to support secondary school students demanding education funding.
Pressure is mounting on the administration of outgoing President Emmanuel Macron. There had been at least two weeks of class boycotts and school blockades, and policing that has led to more than 6,500 arrests, mostly of minors.
The Interior Ministry estimated that 266,000 people took part in demonstrations across the country on Tuesday, including 56,000 in Paris, where small groups of protesters clashed with riot officers at a city square at the end of a largely peaceful march.
Pupils also blockaded schools while large crowds waving flags and placards gathered in Marseille, Strasbourg and other cities.
The widespread use of arrests, tear gas and riot-control weapons against teenagers is fuelling defiance and angering some parents and teachers. Some student groups called for new protests Thursday.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the police response had been proportionate in “almost all cases” and that the protests had at times turned into riots, requiring police intervention.
The start of the protests
Protests first erupted in the Paris region in mid-September. Teachers and students mobilised against a lack of staff at a lycée, or high school, in Creteil, in the southeastern outskirts of the French capital.
From there, class strikes, blockades and demonstrations spread to other Paris suburbs and then nationwide, with protests even in high schools of smaller towns.
Authorities began shutting schools last week to take some steam out of the demonstrations after widespread damage to schools and mounting injuries among staff, students and police. Classes were totally or partially suspended on Tuesday at 891 schools, according to the Education Ministry.
“We need to listen to them,” said Léa Monimart, an adult demonstrator in the northern city of Lille. “They are 17 years old; they are not completely clueless, and they know what they are talking about. It’s important to show that there are adults who support them.”
The protesters’ demands
From the outset, pupils focused on perceived inequalities in the school system, saying that teaching, facilities and opportunities for advancement are not as good for students in disadvantaged neighbourhoods – despite the promise of France’s national motto: “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.”
Placards held up by the first protesters in Creteil read “Too many inequalities, we’re disgusted”, “Education is a right, not a privilege” and “Sorry to bother, it’s for our future,” according to photos posted by Clémence Guetté, the district’s lawmaker at the National Assembly, France’s parliament.
Pupils elsewhere complained that during summer heatwaves they roast in classrooms without air conditioning, and they freeze in winter. French media broadcast videos of scampering rats, collapsed ceilings, leaks, broken furniture and other woes, all filmed in dilapidated schools.
“The public needs to know that conditions for studying are no longer what they were for us,” said Sophie Bordy, a 50-year-old literature teacher in Paris. “It has deteriorated significantly.”
Education spending is one of the costliest items in the state budget Macron’s government is proposing for 2027. It has earmarked 65.5 billion euros (HK$577 billion) for schools, more than the 63.4 billion euros for defence
Pupils also complain of long hours. In high schools, classes often start at 8am and can last to the early evening. French high schoolers’ compulsory school hours are among the highest in Europe, according to European Union figures.
“I see the teachers more than my family,” read one young girl’s placard photographed by Le Parisien newspaper.
15-year-old loses hand in ‘unbearable’ police response
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the government and school leaders must listen to students’ concerns and find solutions.
Responding to criticism of police tactics, Lecornu pledged that any “accidents” would be investigated and described allegations that the police are racist as a “lie”.
Felix Barney, a university student, described the police response as disproportionate, saying it doesn’t make “any sense to hit minors”.
“Riot police, batons, rubber bullets, tear gas,” said Aurélien Le Coq, a lawmaker with the far-left France Unbowed party. Its presidential candidate is strongly backing the protests.
The violence is “absolutely unbearable”, Le Coq said.
Interior Minister Nunez defended police tactics despite a growing number of severe injuries blamed on officers’ riot-control weapons. In the latest case, a 15-year-old boy lost a hand Monday in an incident involving a police stun grenade.
Ministry offers online portal for complaints
The teenage protesters have struck a chord amid widespread discontent in France. Frustrations extend from immediate difficulties like fuel prices that have soared because of the US-Israel war on Iran to broader concerns about constraints on public spending, rising poverty and wealth inequality under Macron.
Against that backdrop, pupils’ complaints that education funding shortfalls are endangering their futures have found a sympathetic audience.
“You say ‘young people are the future,’ so listen to them,” read a handwritten placard attached to a metal barrier outside a Paris school.
Facing accusations that it was ignoring protesters, the ministry launched an online portal inviting high school students to anonymously describe the difficulties they face at school and the changes they want to see.
