High School Protests Sweep France for Fourth Day of Action as Clashes Erupt Outside Schools

Paris: French high school students took to the streets again on Thursday in a fourth nationwide day of mobilisation over deteriorating school conditions, as tensions flared outside several schools and police used tear gas to break up barricades in the capital.

Early on Thursday, dozens of students dragged rubbish bins into place to build fresh barricades outside a high school in northeastern Paris before police moved in with tear gas. Blockades were also reported in other cities, including Lyon, where students blocked the entrance to the Édouard Herriot High School. Roughly six percent of France’s middle and high schools were closed as the protests continued with little sign of easing.

The movement, which began at a single high school in the Paris region in mid-September, has grown into one of the most significant youth protest waves France has seen in years. Students are demanding more teachers, smaller class sizes and school buildings better suited to a changing climate, while student unions have called for a 10-billion-euro investment in secondary and university education. Many protesters have pointed to overcrowded classrooms, dilapidated facilities and prolonged teacher vacancies.

The protests reached a peak on Tuesday, when more than 250,000 students, parents and teachers rallied across the country according to government figures, with clashes reported in Paris, Rennes and other cities. Since mid-September, more than 6,000 people have been arrested, the large majority of them minors, while around 300 students and staff and some 700 police officers have been injured.

The policing of the demonstrations has drawn growing scrutiny. The French authorities suspended the use of stun grenades at student protests after a 15-year-old boy lost a hand during a demonstration in northern France, and Amnesty International has condemned what it described as a disproportionate use of force against secondary school protesters.

Seeking to defuse the crisis, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu told lawmakers on Tuesday that regular lessons in high schools would be replaced until the end of the week by a period of internal dialogue, allowing students and staff to air grievances and discuss solutions. Lecornu rejected accusations of police repression while condemning violence on the margins of the protests. The main union of school principals said the time set aside for discussion was insufficient to address the problems in depth.

Education Minister Édouard Geffray was due to visit a high school in Reims on Thursday as the government continues efforts to engage with students. The unrest comes as the government seeks to push its draft budget through a deeply divided National Assembly while pledging to tackle the country’s public debt.