Schoolchildren protest in France. More than 160 people detained
Protests in French high schools began in the Île-de-France region around Paris, where cases of vandalism and fireworks being launched at police were recorded.
Since last week, French teenagers have been blocking schools and holding demonstrations to protest a range of issues, including overcrowded classrooms, high workloads, and a shortage of teachers, writes the BBC.
Protests in French high schools began in the Île-de-France region around Paris, where cases of vandalism and fireworks being launched at police were recorded. On Monday, protests spread to other regions: according to AFP, four high schools were blocked in the southern regions of Alpes-Maritimes and Var, and protests were also reported in Marseille, in the Lille area in the north of the country, and in Sedan in the northeastern Ardennes department.
On Monday, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu stated that any escalation of high school protests was irresponsible.
"Fireworks, fires, violence near high schools: nothing justifies endangering students, staff, or police officers," Lecornu wrote on X.
He sharply criticized calls by the left-wing radical party "La France Insoumise" (Unsubmissive France) for the movement to expand. "This escalation is irresponsible," he stated, adding that "high school problems must be heard and addressed."
In response, party leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon accused Lecornu's government of "ordering repression" of the protest, adding that the high school students involved were "harmless."
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez stated that the demonstrations and blockades could not be considered typical protest movements.
"This is much more akin to street riots involving masked individuals, armed with fireworks in tubes and projectiles, who clearly sought confrontation with internal security forces," he said. "It was not about making demands, but about pure violence."
Nuñez informed journalists that 164 people were detained and 180 schools were affected on Monday.
He reported that 12 law enforcement officers, 12 students, and three school staff members were injured on Monday.
"We are clearly dealing with urban violence attempting to hijack what was initially a classical high school movement and introduce a violent disruption into the process of school democracy," Education Minister Édouard Geffray stated on Monday evening.
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