Protests by French high school students involving school blockades have continued for over a month, expanding into nationwide demonstrations with the participation of university students, labor unions, and citizens. The beginning stemmed from long-standing issues in the education sector. Since 2007, the number of secondary school students in France has increased by about 189,000, while the number of teachers has actually decreased by about 11,600. In some public high schools, classes with more than 30 students account for 68% of the total.
School blockades that began at a high school near Paris in mid-September spread to surrounding areas within days, and by late September, they had expanded across all of France. As protest videos utilizing costumes like Spider-Man and Deadpool, along with posts encouraging participation, spread via social media, students' grievances over the educational environment grew into a nationwide political issue.
Since then, university students, labor unions, and citizens have joined the protests, and violent incidents such as arson and looting have occurred in some areas. While the government has pointed the finger at far-left violent groups and criminal elements, protesters and citizens are holding the government accountable for the deterioration of education and public services. Today's graph, highlighted by O-Graph, shows how high school students' school blockades escalated into a nationwide conflict.
Reported by An Hyemin | Filmed by Park Woo-jin and Cha Seung-hwan | Edited by Lee Ki-eun | Designed by Ahn Jun-seok | Intern Shin Yeon-sung | Produced by Knowledge Contents IP Team
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