University mobilization in Paris: blockages and fears before the demonstration

On the Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne campus located at Porte de la Chapelle, 3,500 social sciences students study in very clean, very modern buildings. They opened at the beginning of the year. But don't be fooled by appearances, immediately warns Eva, a philosophy student. "It's a brand new building, of course, but entirely glazed. When the sun shines, it's not sustainable. And then, we also already have leaks in the building. The first week of classes, we already had buckets on the floor to catch the water that was seeping from the ceiling.

“It’s a new building, but the means have not been put in place so that we can study there.”

Eva, philosophy student

at franceinfo

Students also deplore the lack of a university restaurant in the building. So many reasons that push them to block the campus.

The anger of the high school students also aroused that of the students. Around thirty university sites were blocked the week of September 28. The inter-union calls for support for the demands of high school students. Everyone will meet on Tuesday October 6 afternoon, particularly in Paris. The students we met hope for a snowball effect with this large-scale demonstration.

“We will recover our rights”

Alia slaloming between pieces of cardboard and cans of paint. On the ground, she writes "May 68", "October 26", in chalk. “In May 68, when people gathered in the street, it changed things in our lives, we won rights. We are going to return to the streets, we are going to recover our rights,” says Alia, determined.

“The students started the movement, and it will grow with all parts of society. That's what October 2026 also represents," explains Sarah, in her third year of an economics degree. She expects a lot from Tuesday afternoon's demonstration. She plans to march alongside young unionized railway workers. "Every day, we mobilize to show solidarity with the high school students, but also we see that we are not the only ones and that there are workers," she emphasizes.

“We are suffering the consequences of the same austerity system which is destroying us.”

Sarah, economics student

at franceinfo

In Paris, the National Education Inter-Union calls for people to go to Place de la République at 2 p.m. A more structured demonstration than the spontaneous high school movement of recent days. Nevertheless, Mathilde and Alia are apprehensive, they are afraid of the police. “The people who are supposed, in their role as police officers, to guarantee our safety, they are the ones we are constantly afraid of. They are the ones who are armed. And we are there, we are helpless with wooden signs, with our little chalks. We know very well that we are going to be expensive, no matter what happens,” fears Alia.

“I think that no one here is reassured, but we go there with our heads down saying that we are here for a good cause too, we are here so that we can fight for something,” assures Mathilde. The Student Union, the leading union in universities, insists: the goal is to make oneself heard peacefully. Alia understands, but replies: “If someone hits me,” she says, “I will return them.”