After a second day of major protests across France, secondary schools closed because of the student mobilization will gradually resume operations starting today.
The Education Ministry has asked the institutions most affected to resume classes in stages, prioritizing final-year students. Schools must also organize a half-day dialogue session, during which students will be able to express their concerns and proposals.
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Official data show that 891 secondary schools experienced disruptions or suspended teaching, a figure representing around one-quarter of the nearly 3,700 secondary schools in the country. According to the authorities, more than 250,000 people took part in the protests, while student organizations put the number of participants at around 450,000 and said that approximately 1,800 schools had been blocked or affected by the mobilization.
Protesters are calling for smaller classes, the filling of vacant teaching positions and investment to improve school buildings.
In Paris, blockades began early in the morning. Later, thousands of people gathered at Place de la République and continued marching toward Place de la Nation.
During clashes, police used tear gas, while some groups of demonstrators engaged in violent acts and there were also reports of objects being set on fire.
Patrice Faure, the chief of police in Paris, announced that 32 people had been arrested and 14 others injured during the mobilization at Place de la Nation. He stressed that most of the gathering had taken place peacefully.
There were also problems in other French cities. In Marseille, authorities used tear gas, while in Rennes police intervened with water cannon to disperse protesters.
Marius Mesnil, the general co-secretary of one of France’s largest student unions, warned that the movement would expand and grow stronger until students were convinced that the government was listening to their demands.
“We students should not have to block secondary schools and protest in the streets in the hundreds of thousands in order to be able to study in normal conditions,” he said.
Mesnil said the government had tried in recent days to create the impression that the protests were losing momentum, but, in his view, the latest mobilization, with its mass participation, had proved the opposite.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecorni said the government “must now listen,” while expressing satisfaction that most of the demonstrations had taken place without serious incidents.
The police response has also sparked a broad debate over the use of force. The French police internal affairs service, IGPN, is examining several cases, including the serious injury of a 14-year-old student in Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône, northwest of Paris.
The minor’s lawyer said he had been hit in the face by tear gas during a school blockade, suffering a fractured jaw and losing several teeth. A police officer has been charged with violence resulting in permanent disability.
Another incident occurred near a school in Lens, where a 15-year-old lost his arm after an anti-riot grenade exploded. Authorities claim that the minor had picked up the device from the ground shortly before the explosion, while students say he was hit directly.
The wave of protests began in mid-September at schools in the Saint-Denis area, north of Paris. The main demands were a reduction in the number of students per class, the filling of vacant teaching positions and improvements to school facilities.
The movement later spread across the country and also reached universities, while parents and trade unions joined the protests.
Education Minister Edouard Geoffrey has said that since the crisis began, he has called for dialogue rather than expulsions. At the same time, he has condemned the presence of “extremely violent elements” at the student protests.
The government is facing growing pressure to provide concrete answers to the protesters’ demands. Meanwhile, the CGT trade union confederation has announced that further student and school protests will take place on Thursday.
