Over 160 arrested in student protests on the eve of the strike in France

Ubut ten high schools in the region of the island of France have been blocked by students for a week, protesting against overcrowded classrooms, lack of teachers and schedules they consider excessively burdened.

The protests escalated to a situation of “urban violence”, in the words of the French Minister of the Interior, Laurent Núñez.

Several people were injured in the riots, including “twelve members of the security forces”, “eight teachers, including three directors” and “a dozen high school students”, according to the Ministry of Interior’s assessment.

This was not “a typical manifestation”, but “urban violence”. “The individuals were hooded, armed with projectiles and clearly wanted to confront the security forces,” the minister explained.

“We cannot tolerate excesses,” he added. “We cannot circumvent democratic institutions through violence,” said the Minister of Education, Édouard Geffray, at France Inter, in an interview where he attributed violence to “other people” to institutions.

Meanwhile, the main student union, the Union Trade Union of Liceus (USL), called for the blocking of lycées throughout France on Tuesday, on the occasion of the day of mobilization in the public sector.

Already today, protests have spread to other regions such as the Maritime Alps, Marseille, Lille, Grenoble, Lyon or Sedan (Ardennes).

In Lille, students denounce the “lack of resources and personnel”, that “the cafeteria is too expensive”, that the classrooms are “too hot in summer and too cold in winter” and that there are “broken beds and showers” at boarding school.

In Créteil, there are “a significant number of centers involved, particularly in Val-de-Marne and Seine-Saint-Denis”, but also in Seine-et-Marne, according to official sources, which, however, did not specify numbers.

In the Maritime Alps, ten high schools stopped working, mainly in Nice, Grasse, Cagnes-sur-Mer and Menton, according to the municipality, which highlights that the situation develops “in general in a quiet way”.

The student protest movement is a cause for confrontation between the Conservative Government and the Left Party France Unsubmissive (LFI) seven months from the presidential elections.

The Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, criticised the “irresponsible escalated” by the LFI, which “asks for the extension” of the lycée blockade movement, while the leader of the left party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, accuses the government of “ordering repression”.

“ Contrary to the idea that the Government tries to promote, its claims are not party, but are related to their living and studying conditions”, replied in turn the General Confederation of Workers (CGT).

“ High school students are not troublemakers: they are young (...) who want to be heard”, the union added.

The mayor of Saint-Denis of the LFI, Bally Bagayoko, urged the authorities to “come and talk to high school students and check for themselves whether this youth is being ‘instrumentalised’ or simply capable of thinking, organizing and defending its own conditions of study and its future”. Bagayoko also supported the “legitimate” demands of students.