Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left France Insoumis party, spoke to
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Furthermore, later in the day, the French Minister of Education, Édouard Geffray, announced in an interview with the TF1 channel that 3,000 substitute teachers would be deployed to schools facing serious shortages.
Thursday’s main protests were part of the student movement that began on September 17 in the Paris suburbs, before gradually growing into a broader campaign addressing issues such as long school days, overcrowded schools and teacher absences.
The mass gathering which took place at Place de la Bastille began peacefully, before clashes with the police then broke out, with tear gas and water cannons fired at the demonstrators.
On social networks, Mélenchon declared “a powerful demonstration of youth who carry their demands in the most beautiful way! Immense pride. See you on Tuesday, October 13 at the call of youth unions and workers.”
The storming of the Bastille in 1789 marked a major turning point in the French Revolution and became a symbol of the people’s resistance to royal authority.
The leader of La France Insoumise and his allies were accused by their opponents of stirring up unrest and manipulating young people for political ends. Mélenchon rejected these criticisms, pointing out that although his party supports the protests, they were launched independently by students.
The coalition of student and professional unions has called for another day of protest and strike on October 13, and another major mobilization is planned for October 17.
What did the demonstrators on the ground say?
Cathy, a history teacher at a Parisian high school, told Euronews that she decided to accompany her students to the Bastille rally because she supported their demands for change in the French education system.
“Students have demands very similar to those that teachers have been putting forward for years. The system is degraded and it is because there has been no response for so long that this is happening,” she declared.
Meanwhile, a schoolboy warned it was “normal” for outbursts of violence to occur, with students’ demands going “not heard”.
“All revolutions in history have served a purpose. In 1789, there were a lot of deaths. We don’t want to have deaths, but we might go back to violence as a means of expression. The purpose is not to perpetrate violence to hurt people, but to use violence to change the system that harms us,” he said.
Despite this, many other students said they supported the peaceful protests and strongly condemned police violence.
Many students interviewed by Euronews at the rally had not heard of the government’s massive online consultation, launched earlier in the week to gather students’ opinions and formulate possible policy proposals. The French Ministry of Education said it had exceeded 40,000 responses within days of its launch.
Breaking down the numbers
According to the Interior Ministry, 71,500 people took part in Thursday’s demonstrations, including 24,500 in Paris. Meanwhile, around 55,000 people took part in protests outside schools, as part of school blockades across the country.
The Education Ministry said 375 schools were fully or partially closed for the day.
Authorities also reported an increase in what they called cases of “urban violence,” saying they occurred on the “margins” of a peaceful student protest, acting as a “stain on their legitimate expression.”
Police have made more than 6,600 arrests since late September, when students, mostly under 18, began protesting to demand more funding for education, according to the Interior Ministry.
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