▲ High school students in France protest to demand improvements to poor educational conditions
Protests by students that began in mid-September are spreading across France.
While the protests were directly sparked by poor educational conditions such as a lack of educational infrastructure, experts evaluate that they fundamentally reflect the chaos of society, including inflation driven by the Middle East war, national fiscal instability, bond market anxiety fueled by the AI boom, and political instability.
Young people, who are supposed to lead society in the future, are expressing anger over an anxious and uncertain future.
The government has appealed for calm, promising to comprehensively gather and address grievances from schools, but the protests are growing and intensifying.
On the 6th, when large-scale protests were organized, demonstrations continued in cities across the country, including Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nantes, Strasbourg, and Rennes, as well as the capital, Paris.
Organizers expect that 40,000 people participated in the street march in Paris alone.
From the morning, students flocked to various locations to begin protesting, leading to standoffs with police, and many teenagers held placards and smoke grenades.
Scenes of riot police extinguishing fires set by protesters on barricades built in front of schools or on the streets have also been witnessed.
Placards held by students read, "Beneath our textbooks lies anger," and "Where are the politicians? Do they even know we exist?"
Hugo, a university entrance exam preparatory student in Strasbourg, told Reuters, "There is a huge gap between the elite class and us."
Not only teachers, but also parents and families have taken to the streets to support their children participating in the protests.
Controversy over excessive police use of force has further fueled student anger.
On September 30, a 16-year-old student lost vision in his right eye during a standoff with police, and on the 5th, a 15-year-old student suffered severe injuries resulting in the amputation of a hand.
Romain, a teacher who joined the protests with colleagues in Rennes, told AFP, "About 30 of us colleagues talked about the police brutality we witnessed, and we decided to be by the side of our students who need us."
Since the outbreak of the situation, the government has compiled figures showing that 215 students and 715 police officers have been injured.
According to the French Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Justice, 6,100 people have been arrested since the unrest began, the vast majority of whom are minors.
About 1,800 people have been indicted, including 1,483 minors.
The Union Nationale Lycéenne (USL), one of the student-led organizations, stated that currently 1,800 high schools have been blockaded or closed by the Ministry of Education, and 90% of universities have been blockaded.
In a statement, the USL reiterated its ongoing demands, including the allocation of 10 billion euros (approx. 15 trillion won) in emergency school budgets, massive new hiring of teachers, and the expansion of higher education capacity by 150,000 spots.
The USL pointed out, "Student actions such as petitions to authorities or (peaceful) protests alone yield no response from our political leaders."
This was a criticism of some politicians framing the situation by claiming that a "violent minority is inciting students."
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has instructed various ministries to examine the students' main demands. However, as France is preparing an austerity budget due to massive national debt and fiscal deficits, making massive investments in the education sector is no easy task.
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