‘Gen Z has risen up’: Tens of thousands demand better education in France

PARIS – Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across France on Oct 6, as unions and teachers joined high school students who for days have been demanding better learning conditions in protests punctuated by violent confrontations .

Students have blocked the entrances to hundreds of high schools for 15- to 17-year-olds since late September, complaining of missing teachers, overloaded timetables, dilapidated classrooms and buildings that cannot cope with rising temperatures.

Unions, rights groups and the children have accused the authorities of using disproportionate force – a police stun grenade tore the hand off one teenager on Oct 5 and another youngster had his teeth knocked out last week after police fired a grenade launcher at his head.

At the Place de la Republique in central Paris, the savoury smell of grilled merguez sausages – a French protest staple – wafted over the crowd.

Two men in climbing gear scaled the nearby monument, where they unfurled a plastic banner reading “Neglected schools, sacrificed youth”.

Protesters scaled a monument amid the nationwide protest on Oct 6.

“Gen Z has risen up and wants to be heard,” 19-year-old Lilia told AFP at a massive march in central Paris, adding she hoped the president would listen.

The unrest has erupted with just months to go before the 2027 election to choose a successor to centrist President Emmanuel Macron, with far-right veteran candidate Marine Le Pen riding high in the polls despite a graft conviction.

“I’m afraid for my future,” Selma, 15, told AFP without giving her surname, among the thousands marching in the country’s second-largest city of Marseille.

The interior ministry said 86,000 had already joined demonstrations across the rest of the country earlier on Oct 6. The CGT union put the figure at 260,000 people.

While many protests have been peaceful, some demonstrators have started fires, destroyed bus shelters or clashed with riot police.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu responded to the demonstrations, telling lawmakers in the National Assembly that there was “no room for tolerance of violence”.

“Burning down a high school does not improve the state of high school buildings,” he told Parliament, adding it was a “lie” to suggest the government had ordered “police repression” against protesters.

Protesters have started fires, destroyed bus shelters and clashed with the police.

Police have responded with batons, tear gas and riot-control rounds.

The government says 215 students and 715 police officers have been injured since the start of the movement.

A 15-year-old lost a hand to a sting-ball grenade fired by riot officers in the northern town of Lens on Oct 5.

The prosecutor’s office in the north-eastern town of Metz meanwhile said he called for a police inquiry over a possible sexual assault on a minor younger than 15, after video footage circulated of what appeared to be a plainclothes policeman groping a female pupil he had detained.

The government has sought to address the grievances, while accusing the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party of being behind the movement.

Veteran LFI presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon has strongly supported the protests, while calling for non-violent methods.

Thomas, a 17-year-old student from the Paris suburb of Val-de-Marne, said some of the classrooms at his school were short of desks and chairs while the bathrooms lacked doors, toilet paper and soap.

“We just want better conditions for studying,” he told AFP.

Adults turned out in droves on Oct 6 to support the young demonstrators.

Standing outside a school in Rennes, in western France, teacher Romain Dubourg told AFP he and colleagues had “talked about the police brutality we’ve witnessed” and decided to show up for the pupils.

In the eastern city of Lyon, Sandrine Buteau was among dozens of parents who organised to support the youngsters.

“As adults, we’re a bit like the security cordon,” she said.

Lyon teacher Rindala Younes said she was present to help the students “convey their message peacefully”.

“The high school students’ demands are legitimate,” she said.

Garbage bins and other objects are set on fire by protesters amid clashes with French police.

Amnesty International late on Oct 5 said the French authorities should “put an end to the disproportionate police repression seen in recent days during student protests”.

The police have launched 10 internal investigations into allegations of brutality since the protests started, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said late on Oct 5.

Since the start of the movement, 24 schools have been burnt or ransacked, according to the education ministry.

More than 5,000 people, 87 percent of them minors, have been arrested.

The prime minister’s office said 85 teaching staff have also been injured. AFP