At least 164 people have been arrested this Monday during the gatherings and blockades organized in secondary education institutions in the Paris region, in the run-up to the public sector strike called for this Tuesday across France.
For a week now, a dozen centers in the Île-de-France region have remained blocked by students who denounce the overcrowding of classrooms, the shortage of teachers, and schedules they consider excessively demanding. The mobilizations have resulted, according to the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Núñez, in a situation of "urban violence."
The disturbances have left several injured, including "twelve members of the security forces," "eight teachers, including three principals," and "a dozen secondary school students," according to the balance released by the Interior.
For Núñez, this has not been "a typical protest," but rather "urban violence." "The individuals were hooded, armed with projectiles, and clearly wanted to confront the security forces," he pointed out. "We cannot tolerate excesses," the minister insisted.
The Minister of Education, Édouard Geffray, replied on the France Inter broadcaster that "we cannot evade democratic institutions through violence" and attributed the incidents to "outsiders" to the educational centers.
Meanwhile, the Union Syndicale of High Schools (USL), the main student organization, has called to extend the blockades to high schools across the country this Tuesday, coinciding with the public sector mobilization day.
The protests have spread this Monday to other territories such as the Alpes-Maritimes, Marseille, Lille, Grenoble, Lyon, or Sedan (Ardennes). In Lille, students denounce "lack of resources and staff," that "the cafeteria is too expensive," that classrooms are "too hot in summer and too cold in winter," and that there are "bedbugs and broken showers" in the boarding school.
In the Créteil area, there are "a significant number of centers involved, particularly in Val-de-Marne and Seine-Saint-Denis," as well as in Seine-et-Marne, according to official sources, which have not yet provided a detailed count.
In the Alpes-Maritimes, ten secondary schools have interrupted their activities, especially in Nice, Grasse, Cagnes-sur-Mer, and Menton, according to the Prefecture, which emphasizes that the situation is evolving "generally in a calm manner."
Political clash over student protests
The discontent in high schools has become a new focal point of tension between the conservative Government and the leftist party La Francia Insumisa (LFI), seven months before the presidential elections.
The Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has denounced the "irresponsible escalation" of LFI, whom he accuses of "calling for the extension" of the blockades in the institutes. For his part, the leader of the formation, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, blames the Executive for having "ordered the repression."
The General Confederation of Workers (CGT) has come out in defense of the student mobilizations and has emphasized that, "contrary to the idea that the Government tries to promote, their demands are not partisan, but are related to their living and study conditions." "High school students are not troublemakers: they are young (...) who want to be heard," the union has emphasized.
The mayor of Saint-Denis, from LFI, Bally Bagayoko, has urged the authorities to "come and talk to the high school students and see for themselves if this youth is being 'instrumentalized' or if they are simply capable of thinking, organizing, and defending their own study conditions and their future." Bagayoko has also reiterated support for the students' "legitimate" demands.