Police used tear gas as students, teachers and parents blockaded French high schools on Tuesday, the largest day so far in protests over staffing and building conditions.
Police fired tear gas at protesters blockading French high schools on Tuesday as students, teachers and parents joined the largest day yet in a wave of demonstrations over understaffed and run-down classrooms, Reuters reported from Strasbourg, Lyon and Paris.
Clashes were reported in Rennes, Lyon and Strasbourg. The High School Students Union said more than half of France’s high schools were blockaded or would close for the day, and some local education authorities tried to move classes online. The protests began in September in deprived suburbs of Paris before spreading nationwide.
France’s interior ministry said 6,100 people have been arrested since the protests began, most of them minors. The justice ministry said more than 1,800 people are being prosecuted, including 1,483 minors, without specifying the offenses. The government says outsiders have hijacked the movement and that it has turned toward urban violence.
Education Minister Edouard Geffray said on Monday that at least 190 high-school students had been injured. On Sunday he said 78 teaching staff had been injured and 24 schools burned or ransacked. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Tuesday that 715 police officers had been injured, Al Jazeera reported.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has told ministers to address leading student demands, including replacing absent teachers, reviewing the length of the school day and longer lunch breaks. The movement is a further test for President Emmanuel Macron’s government as it faces budget pressure.
People Sentiments Negative
- A Strasbourg graduate, Hugo Vetzel, told Reuters there is a gap between elites and students.
- Another recent graduate, Roberta, said protesters want more money so high schools can be renovated.
- The government says the movement has been hijacked and has turned into urban violence.