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Amidst autumn of unrest, France detains 625 protesting schoolchildren.
As high-school students all over France are protesting the lack of teachers, crowded classes, long school days and wretched conditions in their schools, the French authorities have detained 625 people. Most of them were minors and were detained the day before in 356 schools throughout France.
The protests, which began last week in Paris, have been characterized by “an escalation of violence” including “projectiles, attempted arson and other forms of urban violence” against police, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said on Wednesday. In total, 83 police officers and gendarmes were injured, said the minister. Education Minister Édouard Geffray said that 119 students and staff members were injured by protesters since the start of the unrest, reported Reuters.
According to the education minister,Édouard Geffray, most of the injured staff were principals or teachers who were attacked as they tried to put a stop to the disturbances at their schools. Geffray claimed that “agitators” were “moving from school to school”. The students’ union, Unity for High School Students, a union of high school students, said that the disturbances were caused by a lack of teachers and other staff at schools, as well as by the poor conditions at many of them, including dilapidated buildings and overcrowded classes. A 16-year-old student in Paris told AFP that the education system was “completely broken” and that he and his friends were fed up with being forced to attend classes of 34 or more and with the overworked teachers who tried to teach them, added BBC.
In Marseille this morning a headteacher was attacked with petrol at Victor Hugo high school and seriously injured, the regional authorities said. Seven others including the school’s deputy head, its head of administration and four other managers were also attacked inside the school with petrol. At Saint-Exupéry high school hundreds of young people surrounded a fire truck called to the scene of a blaze and drove the firefighters out. Later a school fire was reported in Nantes. Meanwhile school and public transport have been attacked in Marseille with bus, tram and metro services suspended throughout the city because of damage to vehicles and attacks on drivers. French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has called an interministerial crisis meeting at Matignon this evening to deal with the crisis. All ministers will be expected to cancel their travel plans for the night so that they can be with their regional prefects.
The school unrest which has filled headlines over the past few days is adding to the conflict between the government and the public services unions already mobilized against the 2027 budget. Teachers, firefighters, hospital staff and others were out on the streets on Tuesday, the day before the budget was due to be presented, and were notably vocal. According to the unions, 350,000 people took part in 170 towns across France, while the Interior Ministry estimated 206,000 across the country on the day. The proposed savings and spending cuts in the budget total around €54 billion and include a number of key points. Employees in the public sector will see their base salary frozen for 2027, a fourth consecutive year in which there will be no rise, worth around €2 billion to the state. Retirement pensions above €2,000 per month will also be frozen. The CGT union leader Sophie Binet has given the government 48 hours to reverse these “savage” cuts before it considers further action. Protesters at blocked Paris lycées had written on their placards “Fewer cops, more money”.
The crisis is happening 7 months before the next presidential election, a time when the popularity of President Macron and his government is at an all-time low, growth below expectations, and the largest deficit in Europe. Lecornu’s office is perceiving the current events at the schools as an immediate security problem while the unions consider the austerity plan for the state finances in the draft budget for 2027 to be the next big problem for them. Already now the unions warn that a massive
strike could happen if the government sticks to its savings drive.
