The fire at the Nelson Mandela high school in Nantes, on the sidelines of a high school blockade, aroused immense emotion on October 1. On the day of the tragedy, many disheartened high school students watched the facade of their establishment, inaugurated in 2014, burn.
The spectacular images of the facade and the entrance hall were widely relayed and caused great emotion throughout France. The hypothesis of a fire starting by thugs coming from outside had been raised. This Tuesday morning, three people suspected of being involved in this fire were arrested by the organized and specialized crime division (DCOS) of Nantes, according to information from Ouest-France that Le Figaro is able to confirm. These three suspects are high school students.
Videos of hooded individuals throwing fireworks were posted on TikTok after the incident. A trash fire was also lit on the morning of the first day of October. Last week, the Pays de la Loire Region announced a reopening of classrooms on November 16. The repair bill, initially estimated at two million euros, has increased and should ultimately reach four to five million euros.
Laurène Trillard, Le Figaro Nantes.
Monday morning, after two weeks of All Saints' Day vacation, the high school students returned to school. Some arrived immediately in front of their establishment. Not to follow their classes at dawn, but to perpetuate a tradition that has lasted for more than a month now, namely to block their establishment. Like the ten or so students from Lycée Voltaire, in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, who arrived at 6 a.m. to pile up trash cans and barriers in front of the doors of their establishment. “We wanted to block all the entrances, but the police asked us to let middle school and prep school students pass,” comments Sasha, a high school student, who maintains a few makeshift obstacles in front of one of the entrances.
Quickly joined by their classmates and a few teachers, around a hundred of them gathered on the sidewalk around 9 a.m., in a calm and joyful atmosphere. “Voltaire in struggle, money for public school”, indicated a purple banner displayed by two young people. Daniel*, teacher at Voltaire high school and member of the FO union, joined the movement with a few colleagues. “We share the same demands as the students. If the government had responded to the demands sooner, we would not be here. We should not be surprised to see the blockades intensify in the coming days,” warns the fifty-year-old.
Invited this Tuesday morning on BFMTV, the Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, spoke about the criminal response following the recent social movements punctuated by violence which took place in the territory. Scenes of urban guerrilla warfare and looting notably took place on Saturday October 17.
In total, Gérald Darmanin mentioned 4914 police custody, including 70% adults and 30% minors. The minister counted 2,290 prosecutions by a public prosecutor, 1,820 people referred to court, 404 imprisonment measures and 329 people currently incarcerated. The difference between the prison measures imposed and the people actually imprisoned lies in the appeals filed by the defendants.
The Minister of Justice detailed the profile of the suspects: 95% men, two thirds aged between 18 and 25, 70% of French nationality, 30% foreigners and, finally, 50% who had no criminal record until then.
In the 8th arrondissement of Paris, the Chaptal high school is partially blocked. The police officers present allow young people who wish to go to study. According to the high school students on site, few of their classmates entered. And if some do, they are booed.
The hundred young people present sing songs: “Siamo tutti antifascisti”; “Macron, we are the same if you don’t want it, we are here.”
ENS Ulm (Paris 5th) is also blocked this Tuesday. Here, the mobilization takes place against the backdrop of techno music. Around ten students are standing in front of trash cans piled up behind the gates inside the establishment.
Around fifteen police officers ensure that the institution's staff can access it. The activists displayed a banner “solidarity with high school students” at the entrance.
“Saying enough is not enough to get the toothpaste into the tube,” assures the almost presidential candidate, Dominique de Villepin, on the subject of high school blockages. Faced with this “addition of anger”, the former prime minister calls on France Inter to “put in place a perspective for the next six months”. And pleads for “General States of the Republic”, as well as an “anti-crisis platform”.
“I hope that classes will resume, the long weeks are to the detriment of the education of all the students in our country,” says the septuagenarian, at the head of his own party “Humanist France”. If the executive announced several measures to respond to high school anger last week, “they are slow in coming,” according to him. “It involves putting your hands to work, having a timetable,” he insists.
The Henri-IV high school (Paris 5th arr.) is blocked this Tuesday, November 3. “Solidarity with high school students around the world” and “Acab”, chant the demonstrators.
High school students arrived early this morning to block the main entrance to the establishment. While the management invited the students to enter through the college gate, the activists repositioned themselves to block it in turn. They finally left a passage to allow the middle school students to go to class. The police present on site try to prevent the activists from bringing trash cans to reinforce their device.
“France must be able to find a path to appeasement,” argues Renaissance MP, Prisca Thevenot, on France 2, on the subject of high school blockages. “If there are demonstrations, it is because there are demands, they are legitimate and they must be able to have answers,” demands the elected official, also a supporter of the presidential candidate, Gabriel Attal. Denouncing a “delay in starting the government”, the parliamentarian calls for a “return” to the cuts to teaching positions, planned in the 2027 budget.
To respond to the anger of high school students, the executive announced several measures last week, costing between 5 and 6 billion, including the replacement of Parcoursup in 2028. “I ask to be more precise, what can we replace it with? […] Wasn’t the aim rather to reform Parcoursup?”, further questions the elected official from Hauts-de-Seine.
At Racine high school (8th arrondissement of Paris) the situation is similar, the establishment is blocked by a mound of trash. The fact remains that around a hundred high school students are scattered all along the street of the Parisian high school.
Tags on the trash cans indicate: “(the high school) Racine engaged”; “1 teacher for 35 students. 5 CRS for 1 student”. A young man equipped with a megaphone tried to chant against the police, without success. No police are on site at the moment.
The atmosphere is calm, the young people discuss the blockade. “I missed the blockade, it’s such a banger (editor’s note),” exclaims one of them. Another high school student is in doubt: “I don’t know if I should go back or stay.”
The Condorcet high school (9th arrondissement of Paris) is blocked by around twenty high school students this morning. Around thirty trash cans were placed in front of the doors. A large sheet reading “in support of disadvantaged high schools” is spread across the facade of the establishment.
The atmosphere is very calm, parents of students are stationed on the sidewalk opposite to ensure that the blockade runs smoothly. “We are making sure that there is no deterioration and that the blockade takes place in a benevolent manner,” whispers one of them.
“It has to stop,” assures Jean-François Copé, mayor of Meaux and former minister, about the high school mobilization. According to him, “high school students are losing their year” and “the government will not be able to do better.” On TF1, the local elected official deplores that, in the wake of the demonstrations, “unacceptable violence” has been generated, exploited by the far left.
He believes that faced with “a dying Macronist power, the far left and far right populists have set out to attack France”. The RN and LFI “prevent any courageous measure in the National Assembly” and for its part, the government “no longer has any room for maneuver”. In view of the presidential elections, the right of government must “come together” and “stop looking for General de Gaulle, whom we do not have in stock”.
The Ministers of Education and Higher Education also promised the cancellation of planned job cuts in National Education, the creation of 500 additional positions, a capping of 28 students per second year class and 15,000 additional places in higher education.
According to Matignon, the Prime Minister also asked the Minister of National Education to ensure that a response is provided to the 200 high schools in greatest difficulty listed on the consultation platform. A “first step” deemed insufficient by youth organizations.
Other measures “require in-depth work between now and the end of December,” the Minister of Education argued on Monday, citing the project of continuous monitoring or that of school time.
The inter-union group bringing together the USL, Unef, Fage and the Student Union is, for its part, demanding an investment of 10 billion euros in education and higher education as well as the pure and simple repeal of Parcoursup.
High school students and students plan to join Thursday in the day of mobilization for purchasing power which, for the first time since the start of the school year, will bring together private sector employees, civil servants and retirees.
As for high schools, the mobilization also remains relevant with the return on Monday of charred trash cans and blockages in front of several establishments.
“We voted for a black week” and “we will be at the demonstration on the 5th (November), we are going to organize a high school procession,” Natie, a junior at the Rive Gauche high school in Toulouse, explained to AFP. In his establishment, around a hundred young people plan to organize a blockade all this week.
According to the Ministry of Education, 41 establishments were blocked on Monday (out of 3,700). The High School Union (USL) has identified approximately four times as many.
The figure looks set to be higher on Tuesday, the first day having been, in high schools as well as in universities, more devoted to organizing the continuation of the movement.
Determined to “not give up” in the face of government announcements deemed insufficient, youth organizations are calling for massive blockades of colleges and high schools on Tuesday, before joining the national inter-professional mobilization on Thursday on purchasing power.
“The movement does not stop: students continue to want to mobilize,” Suzanne Nijdam, president of Fage, the first student organization, told AFP.
“We must continue to show, particularly at Matignon, that the universities are still mobilized, that it will not stop so easily, and that we must now respond with something concrete,” she adds.
Monday, upon returning from the All Saints' Day holidays, around 15% of higher education establishments again experienced “disruptions”, which varied, according to the government.
