High school mobilization: tensions, violence and fears of a “black week” before Act III on Tuesday

Guest of LCI this Monday morning, the Minister of Labor and Solidarity Jean-Pierre Farandou considered that it was necessary to “listen to what high school students have to say”, while a new day of mobilization is expected on Tuesday. “I think these demands are legitimate,” he said, while specifying that some could be met and others not. “We must listen and dialogue,” he insisted.

The minister, however, said he wanted to avoid “external elements being added” to the movement. Asked about Jean-Luc Mélenchon's calls to organize, he accused several LFI elected officials of having “poured fuel on the fire” and estimated that “the first postures of LFI were rather to lead to violence”.

“There is no character of impunity in this country,” he added, calling on everyone to “be careful of their words and actions.” “Destruction leads to nothing,” concluded Jean-Pierre Farandou.

“Gesticulations”: LFI MP Mathilde Panot criticized Monday morning on franceinfo the “road map” sent by Sébastien Lecornu on Sunday to his ministers to deal with the high school mobilization. The elected official assures that this letter is “based on a lie”, since Sébastien Lecornu assures that the draft budget for 2027 provides for an increase of 1.2 billion compared to 2026 for National Education credits, while “if we relate this increase to inflation, there is a drop for middle and high schools of 560 million euros”.

While La France insoumise is accused by certain political leaders of wanting to ride on the mobilization of high school students, Mathilde Panot affirms that “the person responsible for this movement is called Emmanuel Macron”. The MP denounces “ten years of social destruction by the macronie”. LFI will be alongside high school students on Tuesday for Act III of the mobilization. “If they create a blockade and if they demand things, it is because they find themselves in situations of inequality and they are denouncing an unbearable two-speed system, particularly for working-class neighborhoods and rural areas,” continues Mathilde Panot.

Maud Bregeon affirmed that the government's priority was to “restore order” around schools. The government spokesperson condemned “images of great violence, with police officers, gendarmes, firefighters, national education staff and journalists targeted”. “It’s unacceptable,” she denounced at the microphone of Europe 1.

“Between high school students who have things to say in a peaceful manner (…) and their message must be heard (…) and urban violence, there is a world of difference,” she said. Maud Bregeon took the opportunity to salute the “remarkable and extraordinary work” of the police. “The attacks and accusations against them are absolutely unacceptable.”

Finally, the spokesperson pointed out the role of LFI, which she accused of “instrumentalizing” the youth protest movement. “They are participating in the conflagration, that says something about their assumed electoral strategy,” she judged.

The Socialist Party is officially calling for demonstrations on Tuesday for “Act III” of the high school mobilization, Olivier Faure, first secretary of the party, confirmed Monday morning. “We must stand alongside high school students, protect these demonstrations, ensure that we do not have images of terrifying violence. These are our children, whom we must protect,” he explains on France 2. And adds: “The role of public authorities is not to confront its youth and its future. When the future knocks on your door, you don’t receive it with a baton.”

Candidate for the primary of the social-democratic camp, Olivier Faure also called for “general states of high school students”. “When there is no space” for them to “be heard,” the space becomes “the street,” he continues. “We had to wait 10 days for them (the political leaders, editor’s note) to finally deign to receive the high school unions. I hope that the government will understand, and that this will lead to real consultation.” Finally, the first secretary of the PS believes that the government “is wrong” with its budget, which “serves the belt” for the teaching world.

The LFI deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis Éric Coquerel gave his support to the mobilized high school students this Monday. “I go to the high schools to listen to them and support them,” declared the president of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly, citing “great anxiety among high school students for their future.”

According to him, the protest is particularly strong in establishments in working-class neighborhoods. “It comes first from working-class towns, from working-class high schools where the anxiety is greater,” he said, saying he thought that “this movement will spread.”

Éric Coquerel also strongly criticized the government's statements on mobilization. “I call on Sébastien Lecornu to measure his words,” he said, before adding: “We are not at war.” The rebellious MP also denounced the police and judicial response to the blockages, citing “instructions” from Gérald Darmanin and “harsh criminal prosecutions”. He denounced “the use of instrumentalization of repression” and asked that high school students be able to organize: “Let us allow general assemblies to take place in high schools.”

Should the parents of the rioters be made to pay the bill for repairs to the damage caused by the movement to blockade high schools? Faced with the multiplication of this damage, Gérald Darmanin, Minister of Justice, toughened his tone on Friday, on RTL, expressing his desire to “request civil liability from parents”.

“Yes of course, and the court can already do it,” reacted this Monday morning on France 2 Jean-Rémi Girard, president of the national union of high schools, colleges, schools and higher education (SNALC). But “the difficulty is to prove that a particular person is responsible for such a deterioration,” he added, affirming for example that the fire at the Mandela high school, in Nantes, would not have been started by the students of the establishment. Jean-Rémi Girard thus calls for a distinction to be made between high school students and thugs, who sometimes have nothing to do with high schools.

The president of the SNALC also assured to “support” the demands of the high school students. “The school is not doing well, it is in crisis, it’s crazy that we only realized it today,” he lamented.

Guest of TF1 this Monday morning, Sophie Binet provided the CGT's support for the mobilization of high school and university students. While she was questioned about the rallies planned for Tuesday, the general secretary of the union assured that “the CGT will be there” and that its activists would be present “to protect high school students”. She also expressed “the full support of the CGT for the injured staff and students”.

Sophie Binet strongly criticized the management of the first mobilizations. “We never manage a high school mobilization like that, we don’t send the police like that,” she said, judging that on the contrary it was necessary to “let the educational staff open the dialogue.” “Violence always undermines demands,” she insisted.

The union leader also pointed out the deterioration of study conditions. “Study conditions have rarely been so degraded,” she said. While the 2027 budget is currently being debated in the National Assembly, it is calling in particular for the cancellation of the 1,588 cuts to teaching positions provided for in the text.

The “road map” sent by Sébastien Lecornu on Sunday to his ministers to deal with the high school mobilization is a simple exercise in “communication”, denounced this Monday morning on France 2 Jean-Rémi Girard, French teacher and president of the national union of high schools, colleges, schools and higher education (SNALC). “At some point, we will have to put concrete things on the table, not just letters,” he adds. Prioritize teacher replacements? “We don’t have any replacements. Where are we going to find them?” Arrange the premises? “It doesn’t depend on the State so it doesn’t cost much to say it. It depends on the region.”

Thus, the SNALC “supports” the demands of the high school students, and Jean-Rémi Girard says he is “very annoyed” because the “realities” denounced “are not new”. “The school is not doing well, it is in crisis, it’s crazy that we only realized it today. […] We defend the fact of being able to demonstrate without preventing those who want to go to class from going to class. But nothing happened, the system deteriorated little by little, and when dialogue doesn't work, some people move on to something else... It's sad that we have to start breaking things and setting fires so that the government suddenly reacts. Where was he when high school was already not going well?”, he continues.

The president of the SNALC, however, calls on his colleagues to be “cautious” during the coming days, which promise to be “extremely complicated”. “Many of us have witnessed things that are sometimes very violent,” says Jean-Rémi Girard, who specifies that 80 education personnel have been injured since the start of the movement. “There, what scares us is that national education personnel are attacked,” while teachers are “also victims of the degradation of the education system.”

“All our politicians must de-escalate,” calls Jean-Rémi Girard. “They need to stop passing the buck and yelling at each other, they need to work together. […] We must do something for our high schools, our high school students, our school, and that the message be one of political consensus.”

In a letter addressed this Sunday to his ministers, first and foremost the Minister of National Education, Sébastien Lecornu, urges his government team to “initiate five projects to respond to the difficulties of high school students and staff”. This work, which must result in proposals “before the end of October”, must “extend the dialogue initiated with high school representatives, trade union organizations and parents, in establishments and academies”, explains the Prime Minister, after a week of high school blockades marred by tensions and violence.

In his letter, Sébastien Lecornu wants classes to resume on Monday October 5 wherever security allows, and sets a timetable to respond to some of the demands, on the eve of a dreaded day of mobilization.

Hundreds of high schools will close at least partially again on Monday, on the eve of a new day of mobilization, which unions are calling for to join, and while calls for a hard blockade are flourishing on social networks. The start of a “black week”?

Of the 3,700 high schools in the country, classes will be “totally or partially” suspended on Monday in 400 to 500 establishments where security conditions are “not met,” Minister of Education Édouard Geffray said on Sunday. In Ile-de-France, more than a third of high schools will be closed on Monday, or more than 160 establishments, according to the LR president of the region, Valérie Pécresse.

The High School Union promised an “Act III” on Tuesday, feared by Matignon, who believes that the movement has shifted towards “urban violence”. A large national education union called for participation in Tuesday's mobilizations. The CGT promised to be “alongside” high school students, in particular to “secure” the demonstrations, and called on energy employees, on strike, to join them.

Calls for a “black week” have also flourished on social networks, with daily blockages. “The high school students are not going to give up, the students even more so (...) it is really going to be a dark week: blockade, blockade, blockade, blockade,” assured Sunday, at the gathering in Saint-Denis, a mobilized student, Leila Nehari.

As in recent days, gatherings will in theory be prohibited on Monday near many schools. In Nancy, demonstrations will for example be prohibited throughout the city center from Monday at 6:00 a.m. until Tuesday 7:00 a.m., according to the prefecture.

Welcome to this live broadcast dedicated to the news surrounding the blocking of high schools. Hundreds of high schools will be closed at least partially again on Monday, before an “Act III” on Tuesday.

Students are demanding more resources for their establishments. They denounce the unsanitary conditions of buildings, overcrowded classes, or unreplaced absences, particularly in working-class neighborhoods, or even the inequalities created by Parcoursup.

Having left the Paris region in mid-September, the movement spread and ignited last week, marked by an increase in incidents and clashes with the police. The executive lists 5,000 arrests, including around 85% of minors, 24 establishments “burned or ransacked” and “78 National Education personnel injured”, “generally by people outside” the high schools concerned, according to the Minister of National Education, Édouard Geffray.