Protests initiated by high school students in France on the grounds of neglected classrooms, overcrowded classrooms and teacher shortages have entered their second week.
While hundreds of high schools across the country suspended education completely or partially, student unions called for a nationwide general demonstration for Tuesday.
The actions, which coincided with the period when the government was trying to pass the 2027 budget bill aiming to reduce the budget deficit, also increased the uneasiness in the financial markets.
France's 10-year bond yield briefly rose above 5 percent last week, reaching the highest point recorded since 2002, as protests triggered concerns about public finances.
According to Reuters, Minister of Education Edouard Geffray announced in his statement last night that 400 to 500 of 3,700 high schools across the country are expected to remain fully or partially closed on Monday.
Geffray noted that as of Friday, approximately 735 educational institutions were affected by the actions.
Stating that there have been incidents of violence since the beginning of the protests, Geffray announced that 24 schools were set arson or looted and 78 personnel within the national education department were injured.
Today, a fight between the police and students in the city of Lille in the north of the country was caught on camera.
According to Ministry of Internal Affairs data, approximately 5 thousand people, most of whom are minors, have been detained since last Monday.
While dozens of people were injured in the incidents, teachers and passers-by were attacked, and the material damage is estimated to amount to tens of millions of euros.
Government Spokesperson Maud Bregeon emphasized in her statement to CNews television that their priority is to restore public order.
Paris Police Chief Patrice Faure, in his open letter published on the social media platform
Security units are worried that leftist groups will direct the actions and escalate violence in the mass demonstration planned tomorrow in the center of the capital Paris.
Sophie Binet, Secretary General of CGT, one of France's leading labor unions, announced in a statement to TF1 television that union members will participate in Tuesday's demonstrations "in order to protect high school students."
Binet argued that they were horrified by the situation they witnessed in the last 10 days and the harsh intervention of the government against students.
The movement, which covers high schools where students aged 15-18 are educated, started on September 17 at Saint-Exupery High School in the Creteil suburb of Paris.
The protests initiated by students who supported their teachers who went on strike due to lack of personnel and resources spread throughout the country in a short time.
While the situation returned to normal at Saint-Exupery High School after the education administration agreed to assign additional staff, including the deputy principal and a nurse, the protests intensified in other cities.
A student named Abderrahmane, who participated in the protests at the school, told the AFP agency that his grades had dropped and said, "If we had not come together now, the future would have been very bad for us."
Sociologist Valerie Becquet noted that high school students, especially those in low-income neighborhoods, feel they are receiving inadequate education.
Becquet pointed out that although all students have the right to access high school, there are deep inequalities between vocational high schools and elite institutions where children from white, wealthy and university graduate families predominate.
The main complaints of students include teacher absences, inadequate physical conditions, busy lesson schedules and long school days that last from 08.00 in the morning to 18.00 in the evening.
It is stated that TikTok posts in which students recorded burning garbage cans and police interventions with tear gas were also effective in the growth of the protests.
Becquet noted that social media allows students to create a different and unconstructed narrative than in traditional media.
