Protests in France: After the lycées, the universities

Hundreds of thousands of young people demonstrated across France on Tuesday. According to the organizers, there were around 100,000 in the capital alone. The Interior Ministry speaks of 56,000 in Paris alone. Mostly young people took part in a march from Republic Square to Nation Square on the right bank of the Seine. On their signs they expressed their anger against the authorities with original puns and cheeky slogans.

As in most cities, the rally in Paris began peacefully. But then came the first provocations with projectiles thrown at the law enforcement officers and soon the street was enveloped in a dense fog of tear gas. But that doesn't change the mobilization success of the middle school students.

They want to increase the pressure on the state leadership even further. They had previously blocked hundreds of lycées in the past few days. The government, for its part, is making every effort to find a way out of the crisis and the confrontation with young people.

The students are now supported by the public service union associations and the students, who occupied around 60 faculties on Tuesday in solidarity.

Many parents also marched alongside the young people at the rallies in most cities, recognizable by their white armbands and signs with their own slogans. They explain that they are there to protect their children from violent clashes. Videos of very violent actions and police operations shocked them.

One teenager is said to have lost an eye and another had his hand torn apart when a police grenade exploded. Another scene that raised suspicions of sexual violence was also shown on all TV channels: in Metz, a plainclothes police officer touched a young person on the breast while arresting her. In the Paris suburb of Noisy-le-Sec, according to television reports, a 14-year-old who allegedly hurled a firecracker at the police was sprayed with so much irritant gas that he had to be taken to hospital with convulsions.

During question time in the National Assembly, MP Mathilde Panot, leader of the La France insoumise (LFI) party, told Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu that he was “a disgrace to the nation”. He gives the orders for these interventions to the law enforcement officers and is therefore responsible for the procedure. Lecornu replied that, on the contrary, it was LFI that wanted to “sow chaos”.

LFI presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, criticized by Lecornu as an instigator, appeared at the start of the rally in Paris, accompanied by several party colleagues. He said he wanted to “encourage” the young demonstrators, but at the same time also urge them to be non-violent.

Together with student organizations, the student movement has now presented the government with a list of demands. It contains ten urgent measures to improve study conditions and educational opportunities. Sabrina Kharbach, the spokeswoman for the Union étudiante, presented the government with a bill worth 10 billion euros. The demands would be a basis for negotiations.

The government has not yet addressed this. Education Minister Edouard Geffray has simply promised that the first thing he would do is ensure guaranteed replacement in the event of teacher absences. This is one of the students’ demands.

The French government obviously does not want to show any weakness towards the students and, above all, wants to take decisive action against the violence of rioters. “Our priority is to restore order,” government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon told the France 2 television channel on Tuesday morning.

It is important to “make a clear distinction between the middle school students who have something to say to us and violent individuals.” In the National Assembly, Prime Minister Lecornu and Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, who was controversial because of the police operations, made it clear that the state leadership continued to rely on repressive order operations.

The pupils and students have already announced the next day of action with rallies for Thursday.