Several student and high school unions are calling for mobilization in schools as Thursday's strike approaches.
What you need to know
Faced with the government's announcements, deemed insufficient, youth organizations are determined to "not give up". New blockages took place in high schools and universities on Tuesday, November 3, noted the ICI and franceinfo network, citing Caen, Clermont-Ferrand, Paris and Marseille. Several student and high school unions have called for blocking colleges and high schools, particularly in view of Thursday, when all private and public employees are called to demonstrate and strike by almost all unions, for purchasing power. Follow our live stream.
Establishments disrupted on Monday. Returning from the All Saints' Day holidays on Monday, around 15% of higher education establishments again experienced "disruptions", which varied, according to the government. According to the Ministry of Education, 41 of the 3,700 establishments were blocked on Monday. The High School Union (USL) identified around four times as many.
A banned demonstration in the heart of Paris. The police headquarters issued an order on Monday to prohibit the demonstration planned for Tuesday by the Interfac Ile-de-France, which was to connect the Pantheon to the headquarters of Medef, in the heart of Paris. A route "incompatible with the security constraints in force (...) in an extremely tense social context", justified the prefecture. The collective, which presents itself as the general assembly of students from Ile-de-France faculties, intends to challenge in court the alternative route in the periphery which is proposed to it.
Thursday's mobilization in sight. 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. The Paris route of this demonstration, also supported by yellow vests, has not yet been validated by the authorities, which was denounced on Monday by the general secretary of the CGT, Sophie Binet. “It’s not serious to work in these conditions,” she denounced Monday.
Fire at the Mandela high school in Nantes: three people were arrested this morning, a source close to the investigation announced to franceinfo.
The first actions began this morning in front of high schools and universities, according to the ICI network and franceinfo, while several student and high school unions are calling for mobilization. The president of the University of Caen Normandy announces the blocking of one campus out of the 15 that make up the university. The president of Clermont-Auvergne University, for his part, confirms that the blockages continue on the Rotonde, Carnot and Gergovia sites.
In Paris, a blockade is underway in front of the Institute of Geography (5th arrondissement), according to a franceinfo journalist. The Tolbiac site, in the 13th arrondissement, is not blocked because management has closed the site, according to a student. In Paris, a student demonstration organized by the Interfac Ile-de-France collective is scheduled for 2 p.m.
In Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), several blockades of high schools are in progress, according to ICI Provence: Saint-Charles (1st arrondissement), Thiers (1st), Jacques-Chirac (2nd) Marie-Curie (6th), Marseilleveyre (8th). A demonstration is planned from 10:30 a.m.
In Paris, students have chosen to replace the blockades with a “popular university”. The Institute of Psychology at Paris Cité University is experimenting with another form of gathering to allow exchanges without repeating the usual courses. This “popular university” combines general assemblies, debates with management and specific courses intended to help students think about mobilization.
The Henri-IV high school, in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, is blocked this morning, according to a Figaro journalist on site. “High school students arrived early this morning to block the main entrance to the establishment,” he explains.
Gérald Darmanin announces that "there have been 4,914 police custody" and 329 people incarcerated since October 17, the first demonstration against "the high cost of living", during an interview on BFMTV. Among the people held in police custody, "70% are adults and 30% are minors, which also clearly shows that it is a movement of adults, and not the movement of continuity of high school students", argued the Minister of Justice.
Gérald Darmanin denounces an "extreme leftism atmosphere", after the violence which has punctuated the mobilizations in recent weeks. “Mr Mélenchon has an immense responsibility”, believes the Minister of Justice, who evokes “an extremely worrying authoritarian drift by Jean-Luc Mélenchon”.
The minister is also invited to react to French prisons, which now have 90,937 inmates, a record. Prison density reaches 178%. He assures that “9,000 prison places” will have been built “at the end of Emmanuel Macron’s five-year term”.
Fabien Roussel, PCF presidential candidate: “Young people are suffering from these years of extremely harsh politics. (...) Today the high cost of living penalizes many citizens.”
Fabien Roussel wants to fight against the high cost of living. The communist presidential candidate believes that it is necessary to seize the current budgetary debates to "increase pensions", "increase the minimum wage by 15%" and set up a social conference to negotiate a general increase in wages.
“A return to school and some clashes”, headlines Sud Ouest. “The rector welcomed a return to calm in the vast majority of Bordeaux academy establishments yesterday. But strong tensions broke out in a handful of high schools in the Metropolis.”
