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French School Protests Escalate, Over 600 Arrested
Confirmed
In Short: French security forces arrested over 600 people and dozens were injured as protests over school conditions spread nationwide.
French security forces arrested over 600 people and dozens were injured as protests over school conditions escalated across the country on Wednesday, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said.
The protests, which began in the Ile-de-France region around Paris, have now spread to cities including Dijon, Lyon, Strasbourg, Lille, and Marseille.
Eighty-three police officers and gendarmes were wounded during the protests, which affected a total of 356 schools.
Students have been blockading schools over grievances ranging from timetables, class sizes, and a shortage of teachers to overheated classrooms during this year's heatwaves.
In Strasbourg, firefighters were called out after bins were set alight outside a school, while in Dijon, police used tear gas to disperse dozens of students.
The High School Student Union (USL) called for further action on Thursday, including at universities.
The protests began last week in the Île-de-France region and have since expanded to other cities.
President Emmanuel Macron slammed hard-left politicians he accused of 'legitimising violence' in the French school protests.
When pressed on the police response to the protests, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said it had been 'carried out in an extremely proportionate manner'.
What's confirmed
- French security forces arrested over 600 people and dozens were injured as protests over school conditions escalated across the country on Wednesday, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said.
- The protests, which began in the Ile-de-France region around Paris, have now spread to cities including Dijon, Lyon, Strasbourg, Lille, and Marseille.
- Eighty-three police officers and gendarmes were wounded during the protests, which affected a total of 356 schools.
- Students have been blockading schools over grievances ranging from timetables, class sizes, and a shortage of teachers to overheated classrooms during this year's heatwaves.
- In Strasbourg, firefighters were called out after bins were set alight outside a school, while in Dijon, police used tear gas to disperse dozens of students.
- The High School Student Union (USL) called for further action on Thursday, including at universities.
- The protests began last week in the Île-de-France region and have since expanded to other cities.
- President Emmanuel Macron slammed hard-left politicians he accused of 'legitimising violence' in the French school protests.
- When pressed on the police response to the protests, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said it had been 'carried out in an extremely proportionate manner'.
What's still developing
- "We don't condone vandalism; we came to defend our rights because we have horrendous schedules -- we work 8:00 am to 6:00 pm and that's not right," Juan, from the Montbello high school in the northern city of Lille which had been blockaded over the last days, told AFP.
- The dozens hurt since the start of protests included both pupils and staff, he said.
- On Tuesday alone, at least 10 teachers and several students were hurt, according to the education minister, who added that one teacher had been beaten up.
- Nuñez said the broader public sector protests, with at least 200,000 participants reported, mostly went without incident.
- Watch: Fires and blockades as students stage school protests across France Four-hundred-and-forty people, mostly minors, have been arrested and 76 injured as a wave of school protests over overcrowded classes and teacher shortages spreads across France, officials say.
- "When we try to talk about our rights, they tear-gas us, they hit us." For days students have blockaded the lycée in Saint-Denis, and part of the school gate has been torn down.
- French police also brutally cracked down on a wave of high school occupations protesting staff and wage cuts in public schools.
- High school occupations had begun on September 21 at Saint-Exupéry high school in Créteil, spreading rapidly to other Paris suburbs and then nationwide.
- About 11 percent of teachers and school staff joined the strike, the Education Ministry said, in a system where French teachers are paid less on average than many European peers.
- French high school students have blockaded dozens of schools and public sector workers have gone on strike, protesting planned budget cuts before next year’s presidential election.
- Student protests have gathered pace in recent days over overcrowded classrooms and teacher shortages.
- In the western city of Nantes, teens piled up dozens of bins to prevent entrance to the Lycee Gabriel Guist’hau, while in Paris there was an uneasy standoff between 30 students and a contingent of police at the Arago school.