After protests around schools got out of hand yesterday, protests against problems in education are taking place again across France today. Both students and education staff are protesting against high workloads, oversized classes, and teacher shortages. The demonstrations began last week in the region around Paris and have since spread more widely across the country.
In total, there are more than 170 demonstrations today, organized by the trade unions. It is not only people working in education; employees of public transport, the fire brigade, and healthcare have also taken to the streets against proposed cuts by the French government. The government wants to partly freeze the wages of civil servants, causing great dissatisfaction among public sector staff.
Under the banner of discontent about the budget cuts, protests are also being held against other issues affecting French society, such as inequality and racism. According to the CGT union, more than 300,000 people took part in the protest, of whom 70,000 were in Paris. In that city alone, 3,000 police officers were deployed to maintain order.
Violence and arrests
Yesterday, the student protests got out of hand in various places. For example, fireworks were set off during protests at secondary schools, and there was vandalism. At least 164 people were arrested and 27 people were injured. These included members of the French security services, twelve students, and three school staff members.
Despite calls from French Prime Minister Lecornu to "not let schools become a political playground," it became clear today that education staff, and certainly students, are not willing to back down. Arrests were made during demonstrations and blockades around secondary schools across the country.
Ten people, including students and education staff, were injured. According to the student union, about ten universities were blocked this morning as part of the actions. The police were deployed on a large scale at the protests, to the dissatisfaction of the students who feel the police are acting too harshly. For example, tear gas was reportedly used at a student protest at a secondary school in Saint-Denis. The SNES-FSU 93 union called footage of this "frightening."
'Disproportionate'
French Interior Minister Nuñez said yesterday that the protests are not about the stated demands but are "pure violence." Prime Minister Lecornu accused the radical left party La France Insoumise (LFI) of inciting the protests and the associated violence.
LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon spoke instead of violence by the security services, which he called "unacceptable" and "disproportionate."
Nuñez spoke today with members of fire brigade unions, who expressed their dissatisfaction to the minister. Firefighters are angry about the cuts and call it dangerous when "those who are supposed to provide protection are not protected." They refer to last summer, when the fire brigade in France faced a record number of wildfires spread across the country.
In their conversation with the interior minister, they conveyed their anger, a union representative told the newspaper Le Parisien. They see his presence as a good signal, but according to the union, the minister "made no significant announcements."