French Prime Minister sees “movement of urban violence”

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has lamented the development of the student protests that have been going on for weeks into a “movement of urban violence”. According to the latest information available to the government, this “no longer looks like a student movement,” Lecornu said on Thursday in Paris. The violence has continued to increase in the past few days.

At the same time, he expressed his concern about fears of riots during the demonstrations planned for Saturday against the high cost of living in France.

In some places there is “a downright horrific call for violence,” Lecornu said. He reported on fireworks being set off in high schools and unauthorized persons breaking into schools. This is “an insult to the students” who wanted to use their protests to express their “fears” and their “dissatisfaction” and to direct demands to politicians.

The student protests that have been ongoing since mid-September are directed against grievances in schools. Among other things, more teachers, smaller classes and better equipment are required. Vandalism and violence against emergency services also occur again and again. On Tuesday there were violent clashes with the police in Paris, Lyon and Strasbourg.

"Are we afraid of violence? Yes," said Lecornu, referring to the demonstrations planned for Saturday. “We can no longer hold a demonstration in this country” without violent groups mingling among the participants, he complained.

In the past few days these have mainly been groups from the radical left, but sometimes groups from the radical right have also been involved. The so-called yellow vests, which led a nationwide protest movement in 2018 and 2019, are among those calling for demonstrations against the high cost of living.

“I feel very clearly that there is exhaustion in the country,” said Lecornu. France is “in a kind of permanent crisis” due to wars, concerns about purchasing power and inflation. “Some political movements want to take this fatigue and turn it into campaign fuel,” he said. The government particularly accuses the left-wing populist party La France insoumise of monopolizing the student protests.