Riot police use a water cannon on students during a protest against underfunded schools, in Rennes, western France, on Tuesday.
Jérémie González/AP
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Jérémie González/AP
PARIS — Police fired tear gas to control crowds in Paris and elsewhere in France on Tuesday as more than a quarter of a million people gathered across the country in support of high school students demanding more funding for education, government figures show. The protests have increased pressure on the administration of outgoing President Emmanuel Macron.
As students blocked high schools, large crowds waving flags and signs gathered in Marseille, Strasbourg and other cities. The demonstrations showed how protests that began at a Paris-area high school in mid-September transformed into a national movement – the latest in a long series that has marked Macron’s term in office for nearly a decade.
“We have to listen to them,” said Léa Monimart, an adult protester in Lille, in the north of the country. “They are 17 years old, they are not completely helpless and they know what they are talking about. It is important to show that there are adults who support them.”
The Interior Ministry estimated that 266,000 people participated in protests across the country on Tuesday, including 56,000 in Paris, where small groups of protesters clashed with riot officers in a city square at the end of a largely peaceful march.
Nearly 500 people were arrested on Tuesday, the ministry said. The widespread use of arrests, tear gas and riot weapons against teenagers fuels the defiance and angers some parents and teachers. Some student groups have called for further protests on Thursday.
Riot police use a water cannon on students during a protest against underfunded schools, in Rennes, western France, on Tuesday.
Jérémie González/AP
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Jérémie González/AP
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the police response had been proportionate in “almost all cases” and that protests had sometimes turned into riots, requiring police intervention.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the government and school leaders must listen to students’ concerns and find solutions.
Questioned Tuesday in Parliament about the protest movement, Lecornu denounced “ultra violence” threatening schools. Responding to criticism of police tactics, he promised any “accidents” would be investigated and called allegations that police were racist a “lie.”
Class boycotts and police making thousands of arrests
More than two weeks of class boycotts and school blockades, as well as policing that led to more than 6,500 arrests, most of them minors, have become a flash point at the start of the presidential election campaign.
Felix Barney, a university student, called the police response disproportionate, saying it made “no sense to hit minors.”
“Riot police, batons, rubber bullets, tear gas,” said Aurélien Le Coq, a deputy for the far-left France Insoumise party. Its presidential candidate strongly supports the protests.
Students chant slogans during a demonstration against underfunded schools in Paris on Tuesday.
Teresa Suarez/AP
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Teresa Suarez/AP
The violence is “absolutely unbearable,” Le Coq said.
Nuñez defended the police tactics despite the growing number of serious injuries blamed on officers’ riot weapons. In the latest case, a 15-year-old boy lost a hand on Monday in an incident involving a police stun grenade. He said 715 police officers were injured.
The teenage protesters struck a chord amid widespread discontent in France. Frustrations extend beyond immediate difficulties, such as soaring fuel prices due to the war in Iran, to broader concerns about constraints on public spending, growing poverty and wealth inequality under Macron, who cannot seek a third consecutive term.
In this context, students’ complaints that the education funding gap endangers their futures have found a sympathetic audience.
“You say that young people are the future, so listen to them,” read a handwritten sign attached to a metal barrier in front of a Parisian school.
The ministry offers an online portal for complaints
At the Hélène Boucher high school, in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, protesters overturned trash cans and bicycles on their side to create a makeshift barricade.
Like hundreds of others across the country, the school was closed. Authorities began closing schools last week to quell protests after widespread damage to schools and a growing number of injuries among staff, students and police. Classes were fully or partially suspended Tuesday in 891 schools, according to the Ministry of Education.
Faced with accusations of ignorance from demonstrators, the ministry launched an online portal inviting high school students to anonymously describe the difficulties they encounter at school and the changes they want to see.
Student protests have drawn attention to dilapidated classrooms
At Hélène Boucher’s home, parents and other adults positioned themselves Tuesday between the demonstrators and the police officers who were watching.
“These are our children. Teachers, parents, federations, we all share the same objective: the protection of children’s rights, and it is a legitimate right to demonstrate and demand,” declared Emilia Sichili Suriam, member of a parents’ association.
Protesters voiced a range of grievances, often centered on the lack of resources and opportunities for students in disadvantaged schools, despite the promise of the French national motto: “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”.
Students have drawn attention to dilapidated classrooms that lack basics such as desks and chairs, become stuffy in summer without air conditioning and, in some cases, are infested with rats. Other common complaints include understaffing and exhausting workloads. The compulsory course hours for French high school students are among the highest in Europe.
Suzanne Nijdam, president of the federation of student associations, promised that the protests would continue until the authorities responded to the complaints.
“So we really need to act now, and it’s in the hands of the government, to see these demands through,” she said. “It’s a question of political priority, a question of prioritizing the youth and the future of our country.”
Neighboring Belgium is also experiencing student protests. More than 30 people were arrested on Tuesday and several police officers injured in Liège, in the east of the country, and smaller protests took place in Brussels and other cities.
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