France’s prime minister suspended high school classes nationwide after education protests turned violent. A teenager lost a hand in clashes.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu suspended high school classes across France for the rest of the week on Tuesday, as nationwide education protests escalated into what his government called urban violence, with more than 6,100 people arrested since the unrest began, the overwhelming majority of them minors. “Burning down a high school does not improve the state of high school buildings,” Lecornu said in announcing the suspension.
Police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse demonstrators blockading schools in Paris, Nantes, Lyon, Rennes and Strasbourg on Tuesday, the movement’s largest day yet, with the High School Students Union saying 1,800 schools were blockaded or closed. The French Interior Ministry said nearly 900 schools were shut nationwide. According to Lecornu’s office, at least 215 teenagers and 715 police officers have been injured in the clashes so far. On Monday, a 15-year-old’s hand was blown off during confrontations between students and police in the northern city of Lens, according to Al Jazeera. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said late Monday that 10 internal investigations had been launched into allegations of police brutality.
The protests, which began over overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages and deteriorating school buildings, have drawn support from teachers’ unions and parent associations, with demonstrators carrying signs reading “Under our schoolbooks, anger” and “Where are the politicians?” Hugo Vetzel, a high school leaver in Strasbourg, told Reuters, “When the answer is violence, it means democracy is no longer working.” Lecornu has ordered his ministers to address the students’ core demands, even as the government characterizes the ongoing unrest as having shifted from legitimate protest into broader civil disorder.
This report is based on information from Al Jazeera, The Jerusalem Post, NBC News and U.S. News (via Reuters).