THE MEETING BETWEEN THE MINISTER AND THE ASSOCIATIONS
After the student protests degenerated into violence with institutions set on fire, principals attacked and almost two thousand people arrested yesterday alone, the French Minister of Education, Edouard Geffray, will receive the student and parent associations in Paris today. “Since the beginning of the week, over a hundred schools have suffered serious damage,” said Geffray, who added: “Among the 65 public education employees who were injured, there are 40 principals.”
SCHOOLS CLOSED
In a long message on Even today, around 400 schools will remain closed.
"PARENTS PAY"
And the Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, asked prosecutors to enforce the civil liability of parents for the damage caused by their children during the protests, in order to make them "pay reparations". Since the movement began, around 2,000 people have been arrested - "of which 90% are minors" - while a third of those arrested were detained for violence against people, Darmanin specified.
THE DAMAGES
On Thursday, students set fires in at least two high schools, while at a third school, in the city of Marseille, some teachers were accidentally hit by petrol, authorities said. In Strasbourg, in the east of the country, at least one car was set on fire, while in Toulouse, in the south-west, there were clashes between riot police and some young people.
THE ACCUSATION TO LFI
Meanwhile, at the end of an emergency crisis summit convened on Thursday, the government of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu accused Jean-Luc Mélenchon's France Insoumise (LFI) of fomenting urban violence. Accusation flatly rejected by the sender by the Insoumis.
"AN ORCHESTRATED MANEUVER"
According to the prime minister's offices there is a "shared assessment by the intelligence services on the origin of the movement". It would, in fact, be a "maneuver orchestrated by France Insoumise and its representatives of the far left".
BARDELLA'S ATTACK
An accusation also supported by Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National, in pole position in the polls ahead of the race for the Elysée. So much so that his dolphin and president of the far-right party, Jordan Bardella, proposes that "the damage bill, in millions of euros", be divided "between the families of the arsonists and the party that incites chaos: France Insoumise".
THE REPLICA OF LFI
"I invite the government not to fall into conspiracy theories and the infantilization of high school students", replies the coordinator of LFI, Manuel Bompard, guaranteeing that "this spontaneous movement was born from exasperation in the face of absolutely unworthy school conditions".
THE BEGINNING OF THE PROTESTS
Starting about a week ago from some schools in the Parisian suburbs, with the declared support of LFI, the mobilization has not stopped growing, to the point of also involving university campuses (about thirty according to the student union between Paris, Strasbourg, Marseille, Lyon 2, Reims, Poitiers and Nanterre).
"A MORE RADICAL CHANGE"
Today, the number of blockades or incidents linked to student mobilization has further increased, reaching "900 protest actions", according to security sources cited by France Presse, according to which the movement now involves all departments (provinces) across the Alps and, since yesterday, the authorities have detected "a turning point, with a more radical change of tone" and "episodes of urban violence near high schools".
THE REASONS FOR THE PROTEST
Among the students' demands are, more human and financial means for public education, the suppression of the contested 'Parcoursup' reform, the replacement of teachers in case of absence and the renovation of school buildings considered old.
