High-school blockades continued on Thursday after Education Minister Edouard Geffray promised faster cover for absent teachers. Protest leaders called another march for next Tuesday.
French teenagers blockaded some high schools and marched in cities on Thursday, the third week of protests over teacher shortages and rundown buildings. Reuters reported large crowds from Lille and Rennes to Toulon and Marseille, and in Paris.
Education ministry figures cited by Reuters put morning closures at 224 schools, falling to 157 by lunchtime, so that 96 percent of schools were open. The marches were mostly peaceful. Reuters said there were scuffles in Paris and Nantes, and that police used a water cannon in Rennes.
Education Minister Edouard Geffray, after meeting students and teachers in Reims, said he was starting an emergency plan to replace absent teachers and reviewing heavy timetables. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu had said late Wednesday that the government would present concrete, funded responses by late October, without listing them. Student leaders called that insufficient and set another march for next Tuesday.
A poll reported by Reuters found 72 percent support for the students and 55 percent wanting the protests to stop. The BBC said Interior Minister Laurent Nunez had called the scale and violence unprecedented, and that Lecornu said forces were not ordered to confront high-school students, only to enforce the law.
The new element on Thursday is the minister’s emergency plan and the drop in blockades, not a signed funding bill. Reuters said the late-October package still lacked specifics.
People Sentiments Mixed
- Student protest leaders said Lecornu’s pledge was not good enough and called more marches next Tuesday.
- A poll cited by Reuters found 72 percent backing the students and 55 percent wanting the protests to stop.