French PM Warns Against Escalating School Protests

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu warned that any escalation of student protests over school conditions would be irresponsible, after clashes between demonstrators and police left more than 160 people arrested and dozens injured across France by Monday, with the unrest spreading further into the following day.³¹²

Clashes spread across the country

According to the BBC and Courthouse News Service, the unrest first emerged last week in the Île-de-France area before spreading nationwide. The BBC and Deutsche Welle confirmed that, as of Monday, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez cited disturbances at roughly 180 schools and 164 arrests, with injuries to 12 security personnel, 12 students and 3 school employees. The Guardian reported that by midday Tuesday protests were affecting 300 high schools, with 40 further arrests and 10 more people injured; the Straits Times and UA.News, citing the BBC, put the nationwide detention total at 440 by Tuesday. Citing Nuñez, teleSUR reported the number of affected schools had grown to 416 from 180 a day earlier, whereas Nouvelles du Monde noted the education ministry's tally of 338 blocked schools, even though media outlets cited more than 300 and student unions insisted the figure was closer to 400.³¹²⁹

Nuñez said 440 people had been detained nationwide and that 48 law enforcement members had been injured. He said masked demonstrators had shown up at schools carrying projectiles and waiting for police to intervene, adding that nothing justified such conduct. Deutsche Welle reported that violence at the protests included fireworks, fires and other incidents near high schools, and quoted Nuñez describing the unrest as "violence à l'état pur" rather than genuine grievances.³⁴⁵

According to Courthouse News Service, masked students in Lille set bins alight outside Lycée César Baggio and threw bottles and paving stones at police, who responded with tear gas. In Nantes, students stacked bins against the entrance of Lycée Gabriel Guist'hau to prevent access, and about 100 students at Rennes' Lycée Bréquigny hurled objects at the building. In Paris, about 80 students gathered outside the Lamartine school holding signs protesting excessive lesson hours. Police outfitted with riot shields used batons against students and an AFP reporter at Lycée Paul-Éluard in Seine-Saint-Denis.⁶

Political reactions

Lecornu said, "An escalation of student protests would be irresponsible," and, according to the BBC and Courthouse News Service, accused France Unbowed of urging the expansion of the protests, a claim not confirmed elsewhere in the dossier. Education Minister Édouard Geffray said students have the right to protest but that reports of violence were unacceptable. Nuñez, defending the police response, called officers' actions "extremely proportionate," according to teleSUR and the Straits Times, and said comments made by the mayor of Saint-Denis were very serious.³⁶⁸⁹

France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, according to Deutsche Welle and the Guardian, accused the government of carrying out a crackdown with racist undertones, an allegation the government did not confirm. Hundreds of students at Lycée Paul-Éluard were joined by LFI Mayor Bally Bagayoko, who led the group in singing the national anthem; he denied having set fire to a bin at the school and called the protests "completely legitimate," adding that "sometimes, violence can be legitimate. he added that avoiding violence, when possible, was preferable.¹²⁶

Deutsche Welle noted that the unrest comes seven months before a presidential election that Emmanuel Macron, constitutionally barred from a third term, cannot contest, and that Lecornu is a close ally of Macron, according to Courthouse News Service. A nationwide strike by public-sector workers was reported for Tuesday, coinciding with the school protests, and Nouvelles du Monde said the government is seeking 54 billion euros in budget cuts, with Lecornu due to present the budget plan on Thursday. Organizers estimated roughly 300,000 demonstrators took part in marches across the country, while police put the Paris turnout at 30,000, and about one-tenth of teachers walked off the job, per Courthouse News Service.¹⁶⁵

Grievances over school conditions

According to the BBC, the demonstrations stem from overcrowded classes and teacher shortages, a claim not corroborated elsewhere in the dossier. Deutsche Welle reported that students cite overcrowded classes, heavy workloads, poor materials and teacher shortages, while France 24's headline referenced class sizes of more than 36 pupils. The Guardian reported overcrowded classrooms sometimes holding 32 to 35 students. A 16-year-old student named Victoire said, "We, the children of the suburbs, are abandoned and neglected," and described conditions at her school as unsanitary; students at the Lamartine school said they had "more hours of lessons than sleep."³¹⁷²

Ryad Rani, president of the Union Syndicale Lycéenne, called for peaceful blockades. According to the Straits Times, Riyad Rani said the government had engaged in repression and that police used excessive force, an allegation the Interior Ministry disputed by describing its response as proportionate.³⁸⁹