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France Braces for Protests as Students, Yellow Vests and Unions Rally
Confirmed
In Short: Protests are set to take place across France as students, Yellow Vests, and trade unions gather to voice concerns over education, public spending, and inequality.
The initial wave of protests began last month at high schools in Paris’ poor northern suburbs, where anger over teacher absences and shabby facilities quickly morphed into a nationwide movement.
Yannick Maillou, a teacher from La Crèche in western France, joined the Yellow Vests in 2018 and remains involved in the movement.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said stun grenades could be used during the protests, despite the government suspending their use for student demonstrations.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu expressed concern over potential unrest, stating, “I’m extremely concerned,” during a visit to the Paris car show.
The protests come at a difficult time for President Emmanuel Macron, who is nearing the end of his presidency amid a polarized electorate and a fragmented domestic political situation.
French students have been protesting for five consecutive days, with Tuesday's demonstrations gathering around 480,000 people, according to the French trade union.
Despite the French government's claim that the mobilization is slowing down, the protests are expected to intensify this Saturday with the return of the Yellow Vests.
Environmental activist Greta Thunberg joined the student protests against the precariousness of public education, bringing together tens of thousands of protesters in France.
Sociologist Vincent Tiberj observed that the French government initially handled the current high school student protests as if they were urban riots, before attempting to open dialogue.
The government's heavy-handed security response, shaped by its trauma from the Yellow Vest protests, has undermined the right to protest, according to Le Monde.
What this adds
The protests are expected to be among the most violent in decades, with more than 900 police injured since the start of the protests.
The government blames the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) for inflaming the protests, an accusation LFI denies.
What's confirmed
- The initial wave of protests began last month at high schools in Paris’ poor northern suburbs, where anger over teacher absences and shabby facilities quickly morphed into a nationwide movement.
- Yannick Maillou, a teacher from La Crèche in western France, joined the Yellow Vests in 2018 and remains involved in the movement.
- Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said stun grenades could be used during the protests, despite the government suspending their use for student demonstrations.
- Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu expressed concern over potential unrest, stating, “I’m extremely concerned,” during a visit to the Paris car show.
- The protests come at a difficult time for President Emmanuel Macron, who is nearing the end of his presidency amid a polarized electorate and a fragmented domestic political situation.
- French students have been protesting for five consecutive days, with Tuesday's demonstrations gathering around 480,000 people, according to the French trade union.
- Despite the French government's claim that the mobilization is slowing down, the protests are expected to intensify this Saturday with the return of the Yellow Vests.
- Environmental activist Greta Thunberg joined the student protests against the precariousness of public education, bringing together tens of thousands of protesters in France.
- Sociologist Vincent Tiberj observed that the French government initially handled the current high school student protests as if they were urban riots, before attempting to open dialogue.
- The government's heavy-handed security response, shaped by its trauma from the Yellow Vest protests, has undermined the right to protest, according to Le Monde.
What's still developing
- “I was a Yellow Vest protester when petrol cost €1.40 a litre, so imagine how I feel now that it’s €2.20,” he said.
- “It will be a day of chaos for France.” Lecornu has said the protests have been among the most violent in decades, with more than 900 police injured since the start of the protests.
- “If there were to be clashes, all types of intermediate weapons can be used,” he told Telematin on Friday.
- “The justice system is complaining; the education system is complaining; the healthcare sector is complaining; my friends who run businesses are complaining.” (Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; Writing by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Hugh Lawson) La prima ondata di proteste è iniziata il mese scorso nelle scuole superiori delle periferie povere a nord di Parigi, dove la rabbia per le assenze degli insegnanti e le strutture fatiscenti si è rapidamente trasformata in un movimento nazionale contro la disuguaglianza, la scarsa spesa pubblica e il calo degli standard.
- “Groups of people providing medical assistance are forming in anticipation of police violence,” he said.
- Myrtil Devillers, another Yellow Vest protester, said he was sympathetic to the protesters’ “explosive catch-all of grievances” although he won’t be protesting on Saturday as he is abroad.
- “This is a moment of fatigue in the country,” Lecornu said.
- He said there were several nearby meeting points for protesters to gather on Saturday, with unions also calling on their members to join.
- The government blames the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) for inflaming the protests, an accusation LFI denies.
- French students take to the streets this Tuesday for the fifth consecutive day of demonstrations, at a crucial moment for a movement that has lost momentum in recent days and could weaken even further with the start of school holidays on Friday The French student movement gave a new "show of strength" this Tuesday with demonstrations in around thirty cities, which, according to the French trade union, gathered 480,000 people, compared to the 161,500 counted by the Ministry of the Interior.
- "I have participated in blockades where there were more officers than students; all the problems start as soon as the riot police show up." Tuesday's demonstrations come a week after marches that brought together over 250,000 protesters across France.
- The environmental activist visited several educational centers, with a mandatory stop at the University of Paris-Panth�on-Assas, next to the Montparnasse cemetery, which had become a stronghold for university students in solidarity with high school students.