Louvre Museum Disrupted as Protesters Block Entrances

Following large-scale protests over the weekend in downtown Paris, France, the operation of the Louvre Museum has also been disrupted.

The Louvre Museum announced to AFP on the 19th (local time) that the museum was unable to open on schedule because protesters blocked the entrances.

Centered around students from the Ecole du Louvre, a higher education institution for art and culture located inside the museum, the protesters took action to support high school students' protests that have continued for over a month demanding improvements to poor educational environments, and to condemn the police's crackdown.

Carrying picket signs and banners to block the main entrances of the Louvre Museum, these protesters expressed solidarity with high school students who took to the streets instead of classrooms, and protested the government's austerity measures that cut the education budget.

Outside the museum, flyers from the protesters were hung bearing the message, "We are proud to announce that we are blockading the world's largest museum."

Meanwhile, violent protests that swept across various parts of France on the 17th led to the detention of around 2,300 people by police, while over 2,000 stores suffered damage due to looting and arson by protesters.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.