Paris: Violent clashes broke out between French high school students and police on Friday as a protest movement over education conditions spread nationwide, with fires reported and tear gas used to disperse crowds, AFP reported.
Teenagers at lycées — the final stage of French secondary education — have been blocking school entrances and confronting security forces since the agitation began in the Paris region in September before spreading across the country. They are demanding shorter days, improved facilities and a quicker response to teacher absences.
The government maintains that students are entitled to protest but says the unrest has crossed into violence. It pointed to an incident in which a policeman was pursued, knocked down and beaten by a group of youths, as well as an attack in La Ciotat in the south, where officials said two people sprayed a teacher with petrol and assaulted him.
Fresh Rallies Planned
Unions and student organisations urged supporters to maintain pressure on the government and hold new protests on Tuesday. Ryad Rani, who leads the USL high school union, said: “High school students are expecting concrete measures from this government, and so far we have not received them.”
Education Minister Edouard Geffray said 735 of the country’s approximately 3,700 schools had been affected “in one way or another” on Friday, marking a 30 per cent fall from Thursday. Following discussions with activists, he announced a plan intended to accelerate the replacement of teachers who are absent.
A young man injured in Tours during Wednesday’s confrontations has lost sight in his right eye, the city’s prosecutor said. The local prefecture said he was hurt as students clashed with police.
Arrests And Casualties
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez put Friday’s arrest figure at 1,747. He alleged that projectiles had been thrown and that law-enforcement officers, teachers, journalists and bystanders had been attacked.
Geffray said three school staff were injured on Friday, down from 31 a day earlier. Since the protests began, he said, at least 65 employees — among them 40 high school principals — had been hurt, while around 170 students had been wounded and more than 100 schools had sustained “severe damage”.
Nunez said over 300 police officers and gendarmes had also been injured.
Clashes Across France
Both sides have blamed the other for the escalation. James, a student in the northern city of Lille, said: “When we see fellow students being beaten, choked, blinded in one eye, and tear-gassed from all sides while we’re simply trying to have a dialogue with the government, of course it makes people angry.”
He accused police of “extremely violent” repression, arguing that it had intensified students’ fury. In Brest, officers fired tear gas at Kerichen high school after pupils hurled projectiles, according to an AFP photographer.
In Paris, blazes damaged the entrances of two high schools and firefighters were called in. In Toulouse, demonstrators treated one another with eye drops after tear gas was used, while police in Aubervilliers, north of the capital, deployed batons and riot shields.
Nunez called footage from Belfort showing youths surrounding a solitary officer, kicking him and bringing him to the ground “rare violence and intolerable”. The police force has opened internal investigations following allegations of brutality against protesters.
Political Blame Game
The unrest has taken on political significance less than a year before France chooses a successor to President Emmanuel Macron. The government has alleged that the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), whose leader Jean-Luc Melenchon is again running for the presidency, helped instigate the movement.
Senior LFI figure Manuel Bompard rejected the claim, accusing the government of “descending into conspiracy theories”.
Geffray said: “The high school student movement is being held hostage by ultra-violent fringe groups.” He added: “What matters now is ensuring our children are no longer out on the streets, because they are in danger.”
