Affected by this wave of high school student protests sweeping the country, as many as 500 high schools across France will fully or partially suspend classes on the 5th. (Reuters file photo)
First published 10-05 03:11
Update time 10-05 06:26
French Education Minister Edouard Geffray said on the 4th that as many as 500 high schools across France would be fully or partially closed on the 5th due to the wave of protests by high school students sweeping the country.
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Agence France-Presse reported that Jeffery pointed out that due to "unable to meet security standards," about 400 to 500 high schools across the country will "fully or partially suspend classes." He said that since the protests broke out, 24 schools have been set on fire or destroyed; the suspension of classes this time was mainly a preventive safety measure in response to the protest leaders’ call for a large-scale demonstration on the 6th.
This student protest stems from the dissatisfaction of French high school students with the current situation of education. The demands include excessive teacher absenteeism, too long daily class hours, and old and dilapidated school buildings. Valerie Pecresse, the mayor of the Greater Paris region (Ile-de-France), confirmed to Franceinfo that more than one-third of the 468 high schools in the region will be closed due to protests on the 5th.
This wave of protests originated from a school in Paris on September 17 and quickly expanded into nationwide demonstrations in the past week. Serious physical conflicts between students and law enforcement forces even broke out in many places, and the police used tear gas and batons to disperse them.
Jeffery accused "radical elements", especially those on the far left, of infiltrating and hijacking the high school student movement and triggering extreme violence. He stressed that this obviously poses a major threat to the personal safety of staff and students, and revealed that 78 education workers have been injured in the conflict. "This is something we have never seen before. They are deliberately targeted because they are members of the national education system."
In response to the various demands of the students, the protest organizers called for the protest to continue on the 6th on the grounds that the government lacked specific measures. French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu put forward a specific timetable on the 4th, urging local authorities to give priority to filling long-term absentee teachers and unfilled vacancies, and arranged to hold a meeting with the heads of various regions on the 6th to discuss how to comprehensively renovate school buildings that have been in disrepair.
Since the outbreak of the protests, French police have arrested more than 5,000 people, 85% of whom are minors, triggering criticism that the police enforce the law excessively against teenagers.
Public security conflicts in various places continue to ferment. A 59-year-old teacher in the southern town of La Ciotat was beaten and doused with gasoline at a protest on the 2nd. The police arrested a 16-year-old teenager involved in the case on the 4th. In the eastern French town of Belfort, a violent incident also occurred recently in which several young people knocked a policeman to the ground and punched him. Prosecutors have arrested two Bulgarian teenagers, aged 15 and 17, involved.
In response to the law enforcement controversy, Amnesty France severely condemned the police's use of "disproportionate violence" in response to demonstrations, calling on the authorities to protect the rights of young people to express their demands without fear of being attacked by tear gas, beaten with batons, or arbitrary detention. French Minister of Public Order and Interior Laurent Nunez countered that the security forces are not suppressing young people, but protecting the safety of students who wish to express their demands peacefully.
