France is experiencing a “Black Tuesday” amid a widespread student movement and a security escalation

On a “Black Tuesday” in a “hot French autumn,” this is how we can summarize what France is currently experiencing against the backdrop of a student movement, an economic-financial crisis, and a sharp political division that will become more fierce as the date of the presidential elections scheduled for next spring approaches. What makes the situation even bleaker is that the movement of secondary school students, which entered its third phase on Tuesday, two weeks after its launch in a suburb of Paris, witnessed a high level of student violence and widespread security repression, such that in the last three days of last week, about 5,000 students were arrested, including 85 percent of them minors, and two thousand of them were thrown in prison, and 24 high schools sustained various damages, including fires. Also, 180 students, 78 educational personnel, and a number of policemen were injured. Classes were suspended in a quarter of France's secondary schools and 30 of its universities.

Broad solidarity with the movement

In the face of what secondary school students described as a “political wall” facing them from the authorities, the Trade Union Federation of Secondary Education Students issued calls to “escalate the movement,” go to “general mobilization,” and demonstrate on Tuesday throughout French territory. These people will not remain alone in the streets of major cities; The (university) Student Union decided to join them, and the two unions issued a joint statement on the Instagram platform to ban education, close schools, and hold a “major joint demonstration” in all French cities.

The Joint Union of the Educational Body (Professors) was quick to declare its solidarity with them, and urged its members to strike and take to the streets. The leftist parties (Party of Proud France, the Socialist Party, and the Communist Party) also called for joining the general movement, and the Farmers’ Union even decided to march with them and go to the demonstrations with agricultural tractors, considering that the demands raised were “just and legitimate.” It is also noteworthy that 8 unions of professors and teachers, with different political orientations, agreed to support the students, considering that the demands of both sides are “common.” General secondary education students demand the provision of more resources and capabilities to their educational institutions, especially in popular neighborhoods. They denounce the poor condition of the buildings and their unsuitability, the overcrowding of classrooms, and the absence of substitute professors for absent professors. They also criticize the lack of equality that results from the registration system for the university stage called “ParcoSub.”

While the targeting of the hard-left “France Proud” party and its leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, continues, both of whom are accused of “politicizing the movement,” “exploiting” it, and “inciting violence,” a statement was issued by the party urging families and adults to take to the streets to “protect the demonstrations.”

The Secretary-General of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, said in a television interview on Monday, “We must stand by the students and protect the demonstrations, so that the frightening images of violence are not repeated.” “They are our children and we must protect them.” As for Fabien Roussel, Secretary General of the Communist Party, he called, on the “X” platform and in a statement, his partisans to participate in the demonstrations, “to make the French people, especially the government, hear the demands of the students,” saluting their mobilization, and calling on the workers to follow their example.

Sophie Benet, Secretary-General of the Trade Union Confederation, said that union members “will (Tuesday) be alongside the students to provide them with protection, because what we witnessed 10 days ago amounts to a scandal due to the unprecedented repression sponsored by the government.” Manuel Bombard, “coordinator” of the “Proud France” party, accused the government of “pouring oil on the fire,” in reference to the process of repression, and expressed his regret for the violence taking place, and for the fact that the authorities are reducing the movement to the “abuses” that occurred in the past days.

There are those who believe that focusing on it is intended to “divert attention” from the students’ demands, and place responsibility on them and not on the authorities who do not listen to what they are demanding. In a measure aimed at reducing the escalation, the governors of the regions, according to what Education Minister Edora Geoffray said, “suspension” of education in about 500 schools, under the pretext that security conditions are “not available,” including 160 secondary schools in the greater Paris region. There is no doubt that a similar measure will be taken on the day of “general mobilization.” That is, tomorrow.

Worried about the rolling snowball

Available evidence indicates that the widespread solidarity with students is due in large part to the unprecedented police and gendarmerie violence that faced the movement, in what the authorities say was a “response to the rioters” who did not hesitate to burn the entrances to a large number of schools, throw stones, and attack security personnel. Laurent Nunez, Minister of the Interior, said that the security forces dealt “rationally” with the demonstrators, while it is clear that the arrest of such a large number of them was intended to “abort” the movement. The Student Union, in a statement on Monday, condemned “thousands of arrests and unprecedented police violence,” adding that “exposing high school students to danger is first and foremost the result of an irresponsible policy in maintaining order, and must stop immediately.”

The truth of the matter is that what worries the authorities is that the rolling “snowball” will grow, and that the situation will lead to what France witnessed in 2018 and 2019 in a movement that was called at the time the “Ambassador Vests Movement.” Philippe Baptiste, Minister of Higher Education, said on Monday that he “feared” that a wave of unrest would erupt at the national level.

The minister expressed his shock at the "disturbing and horrific images of violence." While humanitarian organizations accused the government of resorting to “disproportionate” violence for the purpose of silencing “legitimate demands,” Minister Batiste has a different vision. He said on Monday, “The security forces have shown, so far, a very great deal of proportionality in their dealings with a strong protest movement on the one hand, and with minors on the other hand.”

The Minister of Interior asked his agencies to open 5 investigations into unjustified acts of violence committed by the police. Batiste repeated what Prime Minister Sebastian Lecorno said regarding responsibility for the strikes. He asserted that Mélenchon's party "is, in a way, hijacking the movement" and that it is "breathing its souls."

Batiste expected that the movement would affect “between 30 and 40 university complexes” on Tuesday, either closing or preventing access to them. In a gesture intended to please students alike, Locorno asked for recommendations to be made regarding what the students are demanding, promising to begin responding to them by the end of this month, while calls to launch a “Black Week” spread widely on social media networks.