French students stage nationwide school blockades over staffing and building conditions
Students and trade unions mobilised across France on Tuesday to demand better school conditions, adding pressure on a government facing rising borrowing costs.
Paris, France. France braced on Tuesday for nationwide high-school blockades and trade union-led street protests supporting students demanding action on understaffed and dilapidated schools. The demonstrations added pressure on President Emmanuel Macron’s cash-strapped government.
Blockades spread across France
Teenage students stood on barricades made from rubbish bins outside schools from Lille in the north to Marseille in the south, and from Strasbourg in the east to Nantes in the west.
In Paris, students carried banners reading “We want to be heard, not teargassed” and “Our future is not optional”.
Tuesday’s demonstrations followed two weeks of protests that began in deprived suburbs of Paris before spreading nationwide. The government deployed riot police, saying the movement had developed into urban violence.
Teenager loses hand during clashes
A teenager’s hand was blown off during clashes between high-school protesters and riot police in northern France on Monday.
François-Xavier Lauch, prefect of Pas-de-Calais, declined to comment on the precise circumstances, saying about 200 to 250 protesters had been throwing objects at police.
The regional newspaper La Voix du Nord reported that the 15-year-old lost his hand and part of his lower arm after picking up a police dispersal grenade.
Ministers ordered to address student demands
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu ordered ministers to address the students’ main demands, including ensuring absent teachers are replaced, reviewing the length of the school day, which runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and examining the need for longer lunch breaks.
Lecornu said the government would also review repairs needed at ageing school buildings. He instructed ministers to submit their initial proposals by the end of October.
Budget pressures complicate response
Finding additional funding will be difficult as the government seeks to reduce a ballooning budget deficit.
Investor concerns about France’s growing debt, weak economic growth and reluctance to curb spending have pushed bond yields higher. The yield on French 10-year bonds briefly exceeded 5% last week, reaching a 24-year high.
The rise in French borrowing costs has begun to affect the broader euro area, with the weakening euro providing the latest warning for policymakers.
Finance Minister Roland Lescure said on Tuesday that there was no need for the European Central Bank to intervene.
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