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French businesses, events to close with more weekend protests expected
Confirmed
In Short: French protests over education and living costs continue, with clashes between students and police, and arrests of over 1,800 people.
French protests over education and living costs continued on Friday, with clashes between students and police and disruptions at more than 560 schools across the country, according to French Education Minister Édouard Geffray. The unrest has seen protesters looting shops, defacing monuments, and clashing with police, marking the most violent unrest in years.
French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin reported that 735 of France's 3,700 schools had been affected by violent protests, while French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said up to 500 schools would be partially or totally closed on Monday due to recent clashes between riot police and student protesters.
On Friday, 1,747 people were arrested, according to French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, bringing the total number of arrests since the protests began to more than 5,000, with 87% of them being minors. The wave of protests entered its third week, with a 15-year-old losing his hand and part of his lower arm after picking up a police dispersal grenade that detonated in the town of Lens.
Prime Minister Lecornu vowed that the government would not be intimidated by the violence, blaming the unrest on far-left groups and criminals ahead of next year’s presidential election. He also said the government was taking further steps to address the difficulties faced by high school students and educational staff, including ensuring classes continue, improving facilities, and better organizing school days.
The protests have spread to other European cities, with similar demonstrations over rising living costs and deteriorating public services escalating into clashes with police, arson, and looting. In Paris, police and protesters clashed violently, with one demonstrator's hand blown off, multiple blazes set, and looters breaking into dozens of stores to strip them bare.
French authorities will impose overnight curfews in four northern communes for two nights following the violence and looting during nationwide protests. French Prime Minister Lecornu said he had asked prefects to introduce localised and partial curfews in response to the unrest.
The French government has accused the far-left of stoking the riots that engulfed the nation on Saturday, resulting in widespread clashes with police, looting of shops, and vandalism and arson of government buildings. However, the minister noted that “the day isn’t over yet.”
French President Emmanuel Macron voiced the public’s “anger” and “shame” over the rioting and looting, and vowed that rioters would face accountability. He also criticized world leaders for making “stupid” comments about the unrest, in an apparent swipe at US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
What's confirmed
- French protests over education and living costs continued on Friday, with clashes between students and police and disruptions at more than 560 schools across the country, according to French Education Minister Édouard Geffray. The unrest has seen protesters looting shops, defacing monuments, and clashing with police, marking the most violent unrest in years.
- French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin reported that 735 of France's 3,700 schools had been affected by violent protests, while French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said up to 500 schools would be partially or totally closed on Monday due to recent clashes between riot police and student protesters.
- On Friday, 1,747 people were arrested, according to French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, bringing the total number of arrests since the protests began to more than 5,000, with 87% of them being minors. The wave of protests entered its third week, with a 15-year-old losing his hand and part of his lower arm after picking up a police dispersal grenade that detonated in the town of Lens.
- Prime Minister Lecornu vowed that the government would not be intimidated by the violence, blaming the unrest on far-left groups and criminals ahead of next year’s presidential election. He also said the government was taking further steps to address the difficulties faced by high school students and educational staff, including ensuring classes continue, improving facilities, and better organizing school days.
- The protests have spread to other European cities, with similar demonstrations over rising living costs and deteriorating public services escalating into clashes with police, arson, and looting. In Paris, police and protesters clashed violently, with one demonstrator's hand blown off, multiple blazes set, and looters breaking into dozens of stores to strip them bare.
- French authorities will impose overnight curfews in four northern communes for two nights following the violence and looting during nationwide protests. French Prime Minister Lecornu said he had asked prefects to introduce localised and partial curfews in response to the unrest.
- French President Emmanuel Macron voiced the public’s “anger” and “shame” over the rioting and looting, and vowed that rioters would face accountability. He also criticized world leaders for making “stupid” comments about the unrest, in an apparent swipe at US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
What's still developing
- Riot police clash with students as education protests rage in France School protests send shivers down French government's spine Organisers of the protests have called for the demonstrations to continue on Tuesday after accusing the government of a lack of "concrete measures", according to AFP.
- TEHRAN: Iran summoned French ambassador to Tehran Pierre Cochard on Tuesday over Paris’s treatment of protesters demanding better conditions in schools, state media reported, with French police having clashed for days with demonstrators.
- Iran itself suffered major anti-government protests in January, during which the authorities reported more than 3,000 deaths, blaming “terrorist acts” orchestrated by the United States and Israel.
- Iran accused France of “violent treatment” of the protesters and “extensive and flagrant human rights violations” during the demonstrations, which began late last month and have been accompanied by unrest.
- “We’re going to keep blocking until the government hears us,” Sami Karen, 18, told Reuters while demonstrating outside Charles de Foucauld high school in Paris.
- "The government is trembling and it's right to tremble because when the French people are angry, they never let up," Ryad Rani, the head of the LSU high school student representative body, told journalists in Paris.
- The game in Paris between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints remains scheduled as planned despite civil unrest in the French capital, the NFL said Sunday.