“There are toilets with a hole in the floor, and windows that won’t close.” A Belarusian student explained why youth took to the streets to protest in France
For over a month, school and university students have been protesting in France. Police periodically disperse them with tear gas and stun grenades. Recently, Lukashenka sneeringly asked whether French President Emmanuel Macron would face sanctions for human rights violations and be called a dictator. A master’s student from Belarus, who currently lives in France, compared the French and Belarusian protests and explained the fundamental difference.
Students chant slogans during a demonstration demanding increased funding for education. Paris, November 5. Photo: AP Photo / Thibault Camus
Six years ago, on November 12, 2020, 12 defendants in the upcoming high-profile “students’ case” were arrested in Belarus. Now, students are protesting in France, but for participating in peaceful protests, they face neither expulsion nor imprisonment. A Belarusian master’s student in Paris shares why French school and university students have barricaded educational institutions, what they want to achieve from the state, and how the authorities are responding to the unrest.
Protests in France began on September 17 at the Saint-Exupéry lycée in a suburb of Paris, where high school students joined a teachers’ protest over shortages of staff and resources. A week later, protests and blockades of lycées spread across the Paris region, and then to other parts of France. Later, university students, parents, and union representatives joined the protests. Among the demands are increased spending on the education system and an end to the rising cost of living. Mass protests have led to a political crisis in the country.
“In France, people look at you through the colonial prism of Russia”
Maryja (name changed) was pursuing her higher education in Minsk during the 2020 protests, and is now continuing her master’s studies in Paris.
“I didn’t send out very many applications [to different educational institutions], you could say I took a shot in the dark. But I was accepted into one of the universities,” the young woman shares.
Paris. Photo from the interviewee’s personal archive
The Belarusian usually tells French people that she comes from Eastern Europe because they often know nothing about Belarus. Some French people automatically assume she is from Russia.
“French people look at you, a Belarusian, through the colonial prism of Russia. When everyone laughs, say, at a joke about Prigozhin (referring to Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Russian PMC Wagner who died in 2023 — NN), they look at you as if he were Belarusian. You can’t avoid this; you just have to accept it. And decide each time whether it is important for you to emphasize that you are Belarusian.”
At the same time, Maryja does not feel any discrimination. She says the only incident occurred when she tried to open an account at a French bank: the student was rejected because she held a Belarusian passport. Otherwise, Maryja completely enjoys life in this country: “No one here cares that I’m from Belarus. I missed that.”
Paris. Photo from the interviewee’s personal archive
Maryja believes that compared to Belarus, France has a so-called culture of political awareness: “Here it is important to have your own political stance. The French talk about politics often. Everyone truly lives by it, everyone is interested in it. In France, it is impossible to ignore politics.”
She adds that French students have independent associations and organizations for any topic. And not only students. Many French people participate in civic associations that advocate for various causes.
These same associations, as well as independent trade unions, call on the French to protest when they disagree with certain government decisions. For example, in 2023, trade unions called on the French to protest against pension reform. At that time, the authorities decided to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, which sparked nationwide protests.
“There are toilets with a hole in the floor, windows won’t close, and not enough desks”
From the outside, it might seem that France’s education system, in one of Europe’s largest economies, could not have the same problems as Belarus. But Maryja explains that the conditions in which children study in the Parisian suburbs are indeed far from the best.
“I think they can be compared to some school in a small Belarusian town. I’ve read a lot in the French media about toilets with a hole in the floor, windows that won’t close, and a lack of desks. I believe they came out to fight for decent learning conditions, and their protest is legitimate,” she explains.
In early October, dozens of universities joined the school protests. Among them is the university where Maryja studies. The girl says she hasn’t been studying for over a month now — not by her own choice.
Students gather in front of the University of Lyon during a protest. Lyon, November 5. Photo: AP Photo / Laurent Cipriani
“Students who are not protesting feel isolated because of these rallies. If your university is closed, you sit at home. You feel completely abandoned because you don’t know what to do. Most professors are also on strike; classes are not taking place. The purpose of your life, unfortunately, is simply lost.”
Maryja says that most professors at her university refused to hold classes in solidarity with the students. At the same time, unlike in Belarus, students and professors face no repression for participating in protests: “This isn’t Belarus: if you don’t attend classes, you won’t be expelled. And it’s not even that students skip classes. They simply aren’t happening. There is nowhere to go, no Zoom call to join.”
Students sit in front of a blockaded high school. Paris, November 3. Photo: AP Photo / Thibault Camus
The students at the university where Maryja studies are among the most active protesters in the country. All entrances to the institution are barricaded with dumpsters. Every day, students gather near the university, listen to music, and dance. One of the goals of such actions is to prevent anyone from entering the building.
Students stand in front of a blockaded school, protesting the lack of resources in educational institutions. Paris, November 2. Photo: AP Photo / Nicolas Garriga
According to her, such a protest can become dangerous only if the university president (rector) or the regional head calls the police due to a threat to public order. “Specifically at my university, this has never happened. There has never been an instance of police coming and dispersing everyone. So far, no one is forbidding the students of my university from protesting every day,” the student notes.
This stands in sharp contrast to the Belarusian experience, where in the wake of the 2020 protests, the authorities initiated the high-profile “students’ case,” arresting 12 people — ten students, BSUIR lecturer Volha Filatchankava, and a university graduate. They were accused of organizing protests and sentenced to real prison terms. In 2022, all convicts were released after serving their full sentences.
What do French students want to achieve?
Students hold a banner reading “High school students, university students — we will go all the way” during a demonstration in Paris on November 10. Photo: AP Photo / Teresa Suarez
While in Belarus the catalyst for mass protests in 2020 was the rigged presidential election, in France students are protesting over social and economic issues.
“I think the student protest is an expression of our generation’s dissatisfaction, young French people, with the economic situation they all find themselves in. You finish your studies — in France, a bachelor’s degree takes three years, a master’s takes two — enter the labor market, and nobody wants to hire you.”
Students at a demonstration. Paris, November 10. Photo: AP Photo / Teresa Suarez
Maryja considers the demands of this year’s student protests to be quite broad. “When you are a student, you have no money, you have nothing to live on. Stipends awarded on social criteria — say, if your family is very poor — are not enough. Many students are forced to work. But working and studying at university at the same time is very difficult. There is an enormous amount of coursework here,” she argues.
Student stipends at various Belarusian universities start at 185 rubles. With a high grade point average, one can expect 300–400 rubles per month. The size of social student stipends in France depends on the family’s income level and can range from €145 to €635 per month (roughly 500–2,100 Belarusian rubles).
“It’s very hard to look at the older generation of French people, who in their time were able to build capital, buy an apartment in Paris, and a small country house. Meanwhile, as a student, you are rented a nine-square-meter room for 1,000 euros,” the girl laments.
Paris in the evening. Photo from the interviewee’s personal archive
“A Belarusian won’t go ransack Euroopt because they have nothing to eat”
Commenting on the riots that took place in Paris on October 17–18, the Belarusian says she dislikes the narrative of some media outlets claiming that high schoolers took to the streets and “destroyed half of Paris”: “The vast majority of the demonstrations on October 17 were peaceful. People simply demanded better living conditions. It was only afterwards that we saw rioting in some Paris neighborhoods. The people who smashed everything took advantage of the chaos.”
During the riots in France on October 17–18, both luxury brand stores and small businesses suffered. The damages could reach 1.2 billion euros.
A shop in Paris after the riots of October 17–18. Photo from the interviewee’s personal archive
The young woman has questions for the French police, who, in her opinion, are busy dispersing peaceful protesters rather than those looting stores. Some of her acquaintances were dispersed by police during demonstrations: “I know that some of them caught a good dose of tear gas. But they were not detained. This happened during a peaceful demonstration that, for some reason, at a certain moment, authorities decided to disperse with police.”
Students confront police during a protest against underfunding of schools. Paris, November 3, 2026. Photo: AP Photo / Thibault Camus
Police officers spray pepper spray toward students near Sciences Po university. Paris, October 7. Photo: AP Photo / Thibault Camus
“I don’t think an average Belarusian would go ransack ‘Euroopt’ because they have nothing to eat. What universe do you have to live in to come up with something like that? But it is also very important not to delegitimize the protest, because the demands are genuinely legitimate,” the student adds.
“The government is bad by default; it will be criticized for roughly everything”
The Belarusian compares the consequences of participating in protests in Belarus and France.
“In Belarus, if you get caught at a protest, your life essentially ends the very moment you are detained. You are expelled from university, fired from your job. Afterwards, it is very difficult to find your place. In France, that is not the case. The level of repression here is nothing like in Belarus, absolutely not. If you are expelled from university for protesting, the whole country will take to the streets to rally for you the next day. No joke,” the Belarusian is convinced.
She says that while Belarusian education is permeated with state ideology, French education is permeated with an anti-state mindset: “The government is bad by default; it will be criticized for roughly everything. And it doesn’t matter who they elect as president. They will treat absolutely anyone that way.” According to Maryja, this applies to both students and professors.
Students sit in front of police officers during a protest. Paris, October 22. Photo: AP Photo / Teresa Suarez
“You can discuss absolutely anything you want, with whomever you want, however you want, choosing any words. There’s no need to skirt around certain topics because there are no forbidden ones here. On the contrary, it is considered right to talk about difficult topics first and foremost,” Maryja explains.
She adds that, compared to Belarus, there are far fewer restrictions in the academic life of French students as well.
“A student can choose whatever research topic they want, and professors will always defend the student. When you have less academic freedom, you have less innovation. And all of that strongly affects the scientific standing of a country. It leads to stagnation. Perhaps Belarusian higher education isn’t the worst in the world. But none of it matters if you don’t have academic freedom.”
According to the Global Innovation Index by the World Intellectual Property Organization, in 2026 Belarus ranked 88th, while France took 13th place. In 2019, the last year before the presidential election after which a blow was dealt to academic freedom, Belarus held 72nd place. Over seven years, the country dropped 16 positions. This year, Belarus ranks lower than, for example, Azerbaijan, Moldova, and Uzbekistan.