Police fired tear gas to control crowds in Paris and elsewhere in France on Tuesday as more than a quarter of a million people rallied nationwide to support high school students demanding more education funding, according to government figures.
The protests increased pressure on the administration of outgoing President Emmanuel Macron.
As pupils blockaded high schools, large crowds waving flags and placards gathered in Marseille, Strasbourg and other cities. The demonstrations showed how protests that began at a high school in the Paris region in mid-September have grown into a nationwide movement—the latest of many that have marked Macron’s nearly decade-long tenure.
“We need to listen to them,” said Léa Monimart, an adult demonstrator in the northern city of Lille. “They are 17 years old; they are not completely clueless, and they know what they are talking about. It’s important to show that there are adults who support them.”
The Interior Ministry estimated that 266,000 people took part in demonstrations across the country on Tuesday, including 56,000 in Paris, where small groups of protesters clashed with riot officers at a city square at the end of a largely peaceful march.
Protests could continue throughout the week
Nearly 500 people were detained Tuesday, the ministry said. The widespread use of arrests, tear gas and riot-control weapons against teenagers is fueling defiance and angering some parents and teachers. Some student groups called for new protests Thursday.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the police response had been proportionate in “almost all cases” and that the protests had at times 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 in parliament on Tuesday about the protest movement, Lecornu denounced “ultra violence” threatening schools. Responding to criticism of police tactics, he pledged that any “accidents” would be investigated and described allegations that the police are racist as a “lie.”
Sharp police response draws criticism
More than two weeks of class boycotts and school blockades, and policing that has led to more than 6,500 arrests, mostly of minors, have become a flashpoint in the early days of the presidential election campaign.
Felix Barney, a university student, described the police response as disproportionate, saying it doesn’t make “any sense to hit minors.”
“Riot police, batons, rubber bullets, tear gas,” said Aurélien Le Coq, a lawmaker with the far-left France Unbowed party. Its presidential candidate is strongly backing the protests.
The violence is “absolutely unbearable,” Le Coq said.
Nuñez defended police tactics despite a growing number of severe injuries blamed on officers’ riot-control weapons. In the latest case, a 15-year-old boy lost a hand Monday in an incident involving a police stun grenade. He said 715 officers had been injured.
The teenage protesters have struck a chord amid widespread discontent in France. Frustrations extend beyond immediate difficulties, such as fuel prices that have soared because of the Iran war, to broader concerns about constraints on public spending, rising poverty, and wealth inequality under Macron, who can’t run for a third consecutive term.
Against that backdrop, pupils’ complaints that education funding shortfalls are endangering their futures have found a sympathetic audience.
“You say ‘young people are the future,’ so listen to them,” read a handwritten placard attached to a metal barrier outside a Paris school.
At the Hélène Boucher lycée, or high school, in Paris’ 20th district, protesters tipped over trash cans and bicycles onto their sides to create a makeshift barricade.
Like hundreds of others around the country, the school was closed. Authorities began shutting schools last week to take some steam out of the demonstrations after widespread damage to schools and mounting injuries among staff, students and police.
Classes were totally or partially suspended on Tuesday at 891 schools, according to the Education Ministry.
Facing accusations that it was ignoring protesters, the ministry launched an online portal inviting high school students to anonymously describe the difficulties they face at school and the changes they want to see.
Dilapidated classrooms, disadvantaged schools in focus
At Hélène Boucher, parents and other adults positioned themselves on Tuesday between protesters and police keeping watch.
“They are our children. Teachers, parents, federations, we all share the same goal: the protection of children’s rights, and it is a legitimate right to demonstrate and to make demands,” said Emilia Sichili Suriam, who is a member of an association of parents.
Demonstrators have voiced a range of grievances, often centering on a lack of resources and opportunities for students in disadvantaged schools, despite the promise of France’s national motto: “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.”
Students have drawn attention to rundown classrooms that lack basics such as desks and chairs, become sweltering in summer without air conditioning and, in some cases, are infested with rats. Other common complaints include staff shortages and exhausting workloads.
French high school students’ compulsory classroom hours are among the highest in Europe.
Suzanne Nijdam, president of the federation of student associations, vowed that demonstrations would continue until authorities address the complaints.
“So, we really need to act now, and it’s in the government’s hands, to see these demands through to the end,” she said. “It’s a matter of political priority, a matter of prioritizing the youth and the future of our country.”
Neighboring Belgium is also seeing student protests. More than 30 were arrested Tuesday and several police injured in the eastern city of Liege, and smaller protests were held in Brussels and other cities.
