French Students Blockade Schools Over Budget Cuts, Staffing

On Tuesday, French authorities took over 400 individuals—mostly underage—into custody as high school blockades and nationwide union walkouts turned into confrontations throughout the country, officials told the BBC, NBC News and aol.com.²⁴⁵

Clashes and detentions

The disturbances, originating the prior week in the greater Paris area of Île-de-France, expanded to additional cities as students obstructed school entrances using garbage bins and, at times, ignited fires and hurled objects at officers, who answered with batons and tear gas, the BBC, NBC News and aol.com reported.²⁴⁵

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 440 people had been detained nationwide and that two-thirds of them were taken into police custody, adding "We don't have the final tally yet, but I'm told two thirds led to police custody." He described the police response as "carried out in an extremely proportionate manner."²

According to the AFP wire carried by Hespress and 24NewsHD, seven incidents involving hydrochloric acid thrown at officers were recorded during Tuesday's clashes, and Nuñez said "Violence is never legitimate. There is nothing that justifies violence."⁷⁸

Al Jazeera reported that at Lycée Cesar Baggio students set bins alight and threw objects at police, who fired tear gas, while at another Paris-suburb lycée teachers formed a protective line around students; at Lycée Gabriel Guist'hau students piled bins to block the entrance.³

A 16-year-old student told reporters, "We're here to deliver a message. We haven't come here to destroy things without purpose. The education system is completely broken. our classrooms hold 34 students apiece," the BBC reported.²

Roots of the dispute

According to the BBC, the demonstrations stem from overcrowded classes and teacher shortages, with classes reported to hold 34 students each. According to Al Jazeera, teachers in France earn less on average than their counterparts across much of Europe.²³

Speaking to The Straits Times, a 17-year-old attending Lamartine school said students were also protesting insufficient resources, overly warm classrooms and packed schedules, adding, "We are also there to support our teachers who have a crazy amount of work compared to what they earn."¹

Al Jazeera reported that officials intend to cut 2 billion euros as part of a larger 54-billion-euro austerity plan, which also includes holding public workers' base salaries flat for a fourth year running.³

The Straits Times reported that union leader Sophie Binet called the budget hazardous and warned it could tip the country into recession, insisting officials needed to respond to the protesters' demands and amend the proposed budget. Al Jazeera reported that she gave the government 48 hours to withdraw the planned cuts, denouncing the pay freeze.¹³

Government response

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, described as a close ally of President Emmanuel Macron, warned that "any escalation of demonstrations at high schools would be irresponsible," and separately said "Fireworks, fires, violence near high schools: nothing justifies endangering students, staff, or police officers."¹⁴

Education Minister Édouard Geffray said, "The right to demonstrate is a fundamental freedom that cannot serve as an excuse for such actions," and added that calling for the blockades to continue was "irresponsible" and endangered students and public employees.²⁴

Ryad Rani, president of the Union Syndicale Lycéenne, accused the government of repression and the police of using excessive force, according to the BBC and NBC News. The Straits Times reported that Lecornu accused the France Unbowed party of encouraging the school protests.²⁴¹

Disputed numbers

Accounts of how many schools were affected vary. The Straits Times reported 180 schools affected, a figure not confirmed by the BBC. Al Jazeera put the number at more than 330 high schools, while Bluewin reported that the Education Ministry counted 338 schools affected by blockades or protests, against 400 reported by the high school teachers' union USL, a discrepancy noted between official and union figures.¹²³⁹