Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across France on Tuesday in support of high school students who have been protesting for days over deteriorating learning conditions, in a movement that has been punctuated by violent confrontations and mounting allegations of police brutality.
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 pupils themselves have accused the authorities of using disproportionate force. A police stun grenade tore the hand off one teenager in the northern town of Lens on Monday, and another youngster had his teeth knocked out last week after police fired a grenade launcher at his head.
«I'm afraid for my future,» Selma, 15, told AFP among the thousands marching in Marseille, France's second largest city. «We just want to save our education and be educated,» said Oceanne, 18, also at the protest in the southern port city. She described suffering from absent teachers who were either not replaced or replaced by «pointless substitutes». Another student held up a sign complaining of long hours at school. «Timetables as packed as Le Pen's criminal record,» it read, in a jab at the far-right presidential hopeful.
A major march was set to depart from central Paris in the early afternoon. The interior ministry said 86,000 people had already joined demonstrations across the rest of the country earlier on Tuesday. The CGT union put that figure at 260,000. In Rennes, in western France, teacher Romain Dubourg said he and about thirty colleagues were present outside the Chateaubriand high school to show support. «We talked about the police brutality we've witnessed and decided to be there for our students if they need us,» he told AFP.
While many protests have been peaceful, some demonstrators have started fires, destroyed bus shelters or clashed with riot 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. «It's scary,» said Mike Ryan, 16, who decided against joining protests in Lens after seeing images on social media. «A hand cut off like that, it feels like we're at war,» he told AFP.
The prosecutor's office in the northeastern town of Metz said it had 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 party of being behind the movement. Veteran LFI presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon has strongly supported the protests, while calling for non-violent methods.
The head of the CGT labour union, Sophie Binet, has said its members would be there to «protect high school students». Greens leader Marine Tondelier has urged local officials and parents to wear white and «go and protect our children during demonstrations». Amnesty International late on Monday said the French authorities should «put an end to the disproportionate police repression seen in recent days during student protests». «The images and testimonies widely circulated over the past week raise alarming concerns about the dangerous use of tear gas, batons and policing techniques by the police,» said Amnesty's Anne Savinel-Barras.
The police have launched 10 internal investigations into allegations of brutality since the protests started, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said late on Monday. Since the start of the movement, 24 schools have been burned or ransacked, according to the education ministry. More than 5,000 people, 87 per cent of them minors, have been arrested. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu's office said 85 teaching staff have also been injured. The government is also pushing legislation to make those responsible for damaging public property pay for repairs themselves, instead of using public funds.
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.