France's Protests Enter Second Month as Student Actions Grow Into Nationwide Unrest
Protests in France that began in mid-September with student demonstrations in the Paris suburbs have spread nationwide, driven by living costs, fuel prices and school conditions. Police have arrested thousands, and politicians are split over how to respond.
Antigovernment protests in France have entered their second month, growing from high school demonstrations in the Paris suburbs into nationwide unrest. Marchers in cities across the country are objecting to the high cost of living, expensive fuel and conditions in schools. Some rioters and looters have used the protests as cover for vandalism. Police have arrested thousands of people, and politicians disagree over how to respond.
How it began
According to videos posted on social media on Sept. 18, students at a high school in Créteil, a working-class Paris suburb, staged a protest after the summer break, citing inadequate resources and heavy workloads. Within days, similar actions started elsewhere around Paris, where students blocked entrances to protest crumbling buildings, overcrowded classrooms and what they described as flaws in university admissions.
Spread across the country
By Sept. 29, organizers said the unrest had reached around 400 schools. The high school students' union cited a lack of teachers and staff and dilapidated schools. Education Minister Édouard Geffray called some demands legitimate but condemned the confrontational methods. By the end of September, nearly 80 people had been injured and more than 440 detained, many of them minors.
The Interior Ministry said that by Oct. 2 the protests had reached more than 1,000 schools, 220 of them blockaded, and university students had joined. Arrests climbed to 3,000. Authorities reported the use of mortar-style fireworks and the burning of public buildings.
A broadening movement
In October, labor unions, parents and other activists joined. On Oct. 6, the ministry said about 256,000 people marched in Paris and 40 other cities, and total arrests reached 6,000. A major union of judges and prosecutors and a human rights group accused police of disproportionate force, including against children as young as 14.
On Oct. 17, more than half a million people joined 110 marches, according to an official estimate; the C.G.T. union put the figure at 800,000. It was the largest day of protest so far. Rioters vandalized about 1,500 shops, and in Limoges they set fire to the 19th-century City Hall, whose spire collapsed in flames.
