On the 2nd alone, 1,747 people were arrested nationwide... Intensifying violence between protesters and police
Students demand more teachers and improvement of old facilities... Increased burden on government without money
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Song Jin-won = As protests by French high school students against poor educational environments become more intense day by day, the French government's suffering from financial deficit is increasing.
The government attempted to talk to students to calm their anger, but student groups said they were not satisfied with the government's response and predicted a large-scale rally next week.
French Education Minister Edouard Jeffre said on the 2nd (local time) that a total of 735 out of 3,700 high schools across the country had been affected "in some form" by student protests.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced that a total of 1,747 people were arrested at the protest site that day, adding, "There were throwing stones and attacks on law enforcement agencies, teachers, journalists and passers-by." The cumulative number of people arrested since the 28th is over 5,000.
The violence at the protest site is becoming more serious day by day, from both the protesters and the police.
According to the daily Le Parisien, a police officer was thrown to the ground and beaten by several people in Belfort, eastern France, on this day.
A video posted on social media showed a masked man spraying a homemade flamethrower in the face of a passerby who blocked a group of protesters who were trying to vandalize a bus stop in Marseille the previous day. The woman, who suffered burns on her face, filed a complaint with the police.
In Annecy, a female school guidance counselor was attacked by a male student.
The police's violent suppression is also going too far.
According to the media outlet La Nouvelle République, 16-year-old Mael, who participated in the Tours protest on the 30th of last month, lost his right vision after being hit by a rubber bullet during a confrontation with the police.
Testimonies that teachers who came to the protest site to protect students were hit with police batons and shields are also being posted one after another on social media.
Amnesty International's French branch also raised questions about the police's use of force on the 2nd, saying that during the protests, the police used tear gas, grenades, and batons and detained students on a large scale.
Education Minister Jeffre told BFM TV that about 170 students and at least 65 staff had been injured since the student protests began.
The Ministry of the Interior calculated that more than 300 police and military police were injured.
Minister Jeffre held a meeting with student representatives, parents, and teachers on the afternoon of the 2nd to alleviate students' complaints.
After the meeting, Minister Jeffre said work would begin immediately to improve the way students' voices are represented within the education system. He added that next week he would announce plans to accelerate the replacement of vacant teachers and begin a wide-ranging review of school timetables.
However, student representatives announced that they would organize a large-scale nationwide protest on the 6th, saying that the specific measures they requested were not reached at the meeting.
Students are demanding that the poor educational environment, including chronic teacher shortages, overcrowded classes, and outdated school facilities, be improved and educational personnel and budgets be expanded. There are also voices calling for the improvement or abolition of Parcoursup, a French university admission support platform, saying that it intensifies competition and inequality in the university admission process.
The demands of students pouring into the streets are causing further difficulties for the French government, which is already suffering from a financial deficit.
France's fiscal deficit ratio is expected to increase from 5.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) last year to 5.4% this year. Accordingly, the government proposed a spending reduction plan of 43 billion euros (about 65 trillion won) on the 1st.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) analyzed that the government, which is seeking fiscal soundness, faces the difficult task of appeasing protesters demanding more resources for schools while avoiding new large-scale spending promises.
This protest has already caused the government to retreat once in its policies. The government included a plan in next year's budget to impose tuition fees on some students who enter college or grande école preparatory courses after graduating from high school, but withdrew the plan as student protests intensified. This plan was one of the policies that increased opposition from protestors.
