According to BBC News, the protests began last week in Paris and then spread across France, affecting Montpellier, Nantes, Marseille, Rennes, Strasbourg, Brest, Aubervilliers, Pantin and Toulouse. Students and other participants in the action demanded attention to a shortage of teachers, overcrowded classrooms and dilapidated buildings, and on Friday disruptions affected more than 700 schools.
In Belfort in northeastern France, a 17-year-old was detained on suspicion of attempted murder after an attack on a police officer near a school. BBC Verify confirmed two videos of the incident, showing a group of young people chasing an officer, who falls to the ground and is struck on the head.
French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said the situation had “shifted from high school demonstrations to public disorder”. He also said that since the start of the movement, around 2,000 people had been taken into custody, most of them children, and that prosecutors had been asked to seek accountability from parents for damage caused by their children and to pay for repairs.
Police in Pantin detained protesters after objects were thrown in their direction, and tear gas was used in Strasbourg. Bonfires and trash bins were also set alight in the streets, and police showed items seized from demonstrators, including petrol bombs and an axe.
Regional authorities in Nantes said damage at the Nelson Mandela lycée exceeded €2 million after a fire that damaged the glass entrance and part of the interior помещений. French Education Minister Édouard Geffray said the movement had been hijacked not by students but by other people, while several unions, including SNEP-FSU, SNUEP-FSU and Solidaires, supported the protesters.
The actions are also taking place amid planned budget cuts that will affect education funding, as well as six months before France’s presidential election. BBC also recalled that secondary school students in France have the right to assemblies, associations and demonstrations.
Sources
