Around 90 thousand people participate, this Tuesday (6), in the protests by high school and university students in different regions of France. This is the third day of national demonstrations after the two major mobilizations on September 29th and October 1st.
The French Ministry of the Interior counted 86,000 participants in demonstrations held outside the Paris region in the morning alone. There were acts in cities such as Lyon, Rennes, Marseille, Tours, Brest, Nancy, Montpellier, Toulouse, Besançon, Perpignan and Lille. In the French capital, the main demonstration is scheduled for the afternoon, with the expectation of bringing together between 20,000 and 40,000 people.
At the center of the demands is the situation of French public education. Students demand more resources and the hiring of professionals in the area, in addition to replacing absent teachers and investing in school infrastructure. They also question the workload and demand greater transparency in the system used by the country for admission to higher education.
This Tuesday, clashes were recorded in Lyon and Rennes. In Lyon, fireworks were launched near riot police. In Rennes, security forces resorted to water cannons, while parents of students even lay down in front of police officers during the demonstration. In Blanc-Mesnil, in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis, two teenagers were injured, according to the broadcaster BFMTV.
Repression by the Macron government
The mobilization occurs amid increasing reports about the repression of students by the Macron government’s security forces, who are already the target of ten investigations opened by the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN). Since September 28, more than 6,000 people have been placed in police custody, including around 4,400 minors. As of Monday (5), 1,802 people had been the target of legal proceedings related to the protests.
Pressured by the mobilization, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu ordered the resumption of classes “in all places where possible” and announced a calendar of measures to respond to part of the demands presented by students. The appeal, however, was not supported. On Monday, 589 establishments had their activities affected, according to the Minister of Education, Édouard Geffray. On Friday (2), 735 schools and around 30 university campuses were blocked.
The students gained the support of a broad national education union front, made up of FSU, CGT, FO, CFDT, Unsa, SUD and Solidaires. Leaders of the French left, such as the environmentalist deputy Pouria Amirshahi and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of Insubmissive France, also joined the mobilization and called for the participation of French society in the events. The movement also received support from the Peasant Confederation, France’s third largest agricultural union, which called on farmers to join the students with their tractors.
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
