Transport suspended in some French cities as school protests continue
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu convened a crisis meeting Thursday as students staged new protests against understaffing, onerous schedules and overheated classrooms, with public transport affected…
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Transport suspended in some French cities as school protests continue
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu convened a crisis meeting Thursday as students staged new protests against understaffing, onerous schedules and overheated classrooms, with public transport affected in several cities. More than 600 people, most of them students, have been detained and dozens of police injured amid the increasingly violent protests.
A headteacher was splashed with petrol by people filling containers and fires started at at least two schools, officials said, as increasingly violent student protests against staff shortages and run-down buildings raged across France. Some 340 demonstrations were under way in front of high schools mid-morning, with more than 160 establishments shut down as a result, police said.
University students joined the movement on Thursday, blocking physical access to around 30 campuses, including in Paris and the southern city of Marseille, a student union said.
Bus, tram, and metro services in Marseille were suspended due to "acts of vandalism and assaults on drivers" that occurred during the morning on the sidelines of the high school protests.
Hundreds held, dozens wounded as French school protests escalate
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Tram services in Strasbourg were also suspended at the request of the state "to limit the movements of rioters and protesters", the prefect of the Bas-Rhin department announced, after acts of vandalism outside several high schools in the Alsatian city.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu convened a crisis meeting in the afternoon, asking his ministers to cancel their travel plans over the coming days due to the blockades led by high school students in order to let prefects handle the situation, his entourage reported.
More than 600 detained
French security forces on Wednesday detained over 600 people while dozens of police and gendarmes were wounded as protests that have seen blockades of high schools and violent clashes escalated, the interior minister said.The movement in the lycées, attended by students aged 15 to 18 for their final three years of secondary education in France, has angered the government.
Since last week, students have staged protests outside schools over grievances ranging from timetables, class sizes and a shortage of teachers to overheated classrooms during this year's heatwaves.
Read moreFrench police clash with teens blockading schools as unions stage day of protests
The protests started in the Ile-de-France region around Paris but have now spread to other cities nationwide.
On Wednesday, 625 people were detained during high school blockades, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said, noting an "expansion of the movement" and condemning an "escalation of violence" outside certain schools.
Why are French students blocking their school entrances?
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Eighty-three police officers and gendarmes were wounded on Wednesday during the protests, which affected a total of 356 schools, he added.
The minister slammed the "targeting of law enforcement officers, the throwing of projectiles, acts of violence, verbal abuse, attempted arson, and what amounts ... to urban violence".
Since the start of the unrest last week, 119 students and staff members have been injured, Education Minister Édouard Geffray said.
The cites worst affected Wednesday included Paris, Bordeaux in the southwest and Lyon in the southeast, and the northern city of Lille where police again used tear gas in clashes, AFP correspondents said.
"It is imperative that our students be able to return to class – especially those who are currently prevented from doing so," Geffray said.
Speaking in Madrid, President Emmanuel Macron slammed hard-left politicians he accused of "legitimising violence" in the French school protests.
"We don't condone vandalism; we came to defend our rights because we have horrendous schedules – we work 8am to 6pm and that's not right," Juan, from the Montbello high school in the northern city of Lille which had been blockaded over the last days, told AFP.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)
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