On Thursday, October 1, faculties joined high schools which, across France, are organizing blockades to demand replacement teachers and more resources, in what could take shape and become “act two” of this social mobilization of youth.
According to the Student Union, around thirty campuses were blocked Thursday morning, in Paris, Strasbourg, Marseille, Lyon 2, Reims, Poitiers and even Nanterre. This is a “historic” mobilization according to the student union. Access is prevented but universities can take courses remotely, according to the union.
According to the first police reports, high schools were already blocked at the start of the morning in Paris, Marseille, Strasbourg and Rennes where the Bréquigny high school, the largest in Brittany, was blocked by a crowd in front of one of the entrances, noted an AFP journalist.
“They don’t listen to us, we have to go out into the street,” Lola, a second-year student, told AFP. “We have a 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. schedule which is heavy to bear, we cannot keep up with this pace, there are teachers who are not replaced, there is even a class which does not have a main teacher,” she said.
This teenager summarizes some of the reasons that triggered this high school movement a week ago in the Paris suburbs. It has since spread and affected 356 establishments throughout France on Wednesday, compared to 338 on Tuesday, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
In front of the Couffignal general and technological high school in Strasbourg, hundreds of high school students, most dressed in black, demonstrated in a rather stormy manner in front of the establishment, noted an AFP journalist. They blocked the traffic of cars and especially the tram which passes in front of their establishment, placed large garbage bins on the ground and set them on fire.
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The hall of the Nelson Mandela high school, in the center of Nantes, was destroyed by a fire Thursday morning when the establishment was blocked, an AFP journalist also noted.
An “arsonist fire”, the origin of which was not specified, was started and spread across the facade of the high school before being brought under control, deputy principal Gaëlle Cordier told AFP.
“We have crossed a red line”
According to initial police reports, high schools were also already blocked at the start of the morning in Marseille. In the Rhône, around 8:30 a.m., the prefecture counted 27 establishments affected by mobilizations, including 5 colleges.
Everyone fears new violence like that which has marred certain blockages. Thus in Tours, a young man was injured in the head on Wednesday and hospitalized for injuries “compatible” with an LBD shot, according to the public prosecutor of this city.
The IGPN, the “police of police”, was seized of three investigations after high school students were injured during blockades of establishments.
“We have crossed a red line. We are blinding young people like they did with the Yellow Vests,” the president of the High School Union (USL) lambasted the AFP, which the Minister of National Education’s announcements on Wednesday did not calm down.
To try to put an end to the spread of the movement, Édouard Geffray announced the opening of a “consultation platform” to which “all high school students will be able to contribute”. They will be able to submit their demands and concerns there. A “national restitution” will be organized to “provide structured responses”.
The high school life councils in establishments, consultative bodies, should also be convened these days.
On Wednesday alone, 625 people were arrested and 83 police officers and gendarmes injured. Since the start of the blockades, 119 students and staff have been injured.
With AFP
