Number of detentions increased to 1,747 due to high school protests in France

The number of detentions is increasing in France during the high school protests that started last week as a reaction to the lack of teachers and education conditions and spread throughout the country.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez reported that the number of people detained across the country today increased to 1,747, and noted that the number of people detained since Monday has exceeded 5 thousand. Nunez stated that 85 percent of those detained were minors. According to the end-of-day data of the Ministry of Education, while 735 educational institutions across the country were affected by actions or disruptions, Minister Nunez announced that there were violent incidents around 158 schools. It was reported that some protests, which started peacefully, turned into violent acts in the course of time.

French Education Minister Edouard Geffray stated that 3 education workers were injured in today's events, and this number was 31 the day before.

PROTESTS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE

Minister Geffray also met with representatives of high school and university students, education unions and parent organizations during the day. After the meeting, student organizations stated that they could not see the concrete measures they expected from the government and called for the protests to continue. While student organizations distanced themselves from the violent incidents, they reiterated their demands to eliminate teacher and staff shortages, reduce the number of students in classes, and increase the resources allocated to education.

Student organizations in France called for new protests in high schools and universities on Tuesday, October 6. Regional organizations of some teachers' unions also called on education workers to support students by going on strike on the same day.

While there was a fight between the police and the demonstrators on the streets of France, where intense security measures were taken due to the protests, the police intervened with tear gas into the crowd in Strasbourg.