French students vow to continue protests, saying ministers’ pledges not enough

A protester reading a book as teargas is sprayed by police during a blockade near Hélène Boucher high school in Paris on Thursday. Photograph: Simon Wohlfahrt/AFP/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenA protester reading a book as teargas is sprayed by police during a blockade near Hélène Boucher high school in Paris on Thursday. Photograph: Simon Wohlfahrt/AFP/Getty ImagesFrench students vow to continue protests, saying ministers’ pledges not enoughSchools blockaded again across country as teenagers and teachers demand more investment and ‘concrete measures’ to improve conditions

High school students have again blockaded schools and marched through cities across France, promising to continue their campaign despite government pledges to address the grievances underlying 10 days of protests that have left hundreds injured.

Large crowds took to the streets on Thursday for mainly peaceful demonstrations in cities including Lille, Rennes, Nantes, Lyon, Toulon and Marseille, while in Paris a procession marched through the city centre to arrive at the Place de la Bastille.

Eliane, 16, a pupil on the Paris march, said she had come to “defend and encourage high schools in an even worse state than mine”, calling the march “magnificent”. She said she planned to continue protesting until concrete progress was achieved.

View image in fullscreenCrowds gathered at the Place de la Bastille on Thursday. Photograph: Abdul Saboor/ReutersThe education minister, Édouard Geffray, said after meeting students and teachers on Thursday at a school in the eastern city of Reims that he was “implementing an emergency plan to ensure absent teachers can be replaced on a long-term basis”.

Heavy timetables were also under review, Geffray said, as were changes to the widely criticised university application system. The prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has promised a “concrete, rapid and fully funded” response by the end of the month.

Read moreStudents said the government’s reaction was not sufficient. Ryad Rani, president of one high school student’s union, said the protesters had heard “no concrete measures whatsoever, no response to our demands”. The movement “will continue”, he said.

Sabrine Kharbach, from another students’ association, said the protest would last “for as long as €10bn hasn’t been put on the table” – the amount students and some leftwing politicians have said needs to be urgently invested in France’s schools.

According to an Elabe poll ​for BFM TV, 72% of French people think the students’ demands are legitimate but 55% of them think the protests should stop. Unions called for another national day of action in support of the students next Tuesday.

View image in fullscreenBurning bins during a blockade of a school in Toulouse on Thursday. Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty ImagesThe education ministry said fewer high schools had been forced to close than in recent days, with 224 shut on Thursday morning and 157 by lunchtime, meaning that about 95% of the county’s high schools were at least partly open.

But several marches drew up to 5,000 protesters, and the demonstrations, backed by many teachers, parents and unions, involved further clashes with police in Paris. In Rennes riot officers used water cannon to disperse protesters.

A prominent complaint on student banners and placards was the heavy-handed police response to the wave of protests. “Too young to be listened ​to, but old enough to be teargassed,” read one banner on the Paris march.

View image in fullscreenProtesters clashing with French gendarmes in Nantes on Thursday. Photograph: Stéphane Mahé/ReutersOver the past two weeks, some demonstrators have set dustbins on fire outside their schools, destroyed bus shelters and hurled projectiles at riot police, who have responded using batons, teargas and riot-control rounds.

At least 215 teenagers, 89 school staff and 761 police officers had been injured since the start of the protests, which were triggered by chronic teacher shortages, crowded classes, dilapidated buildings and long school days.

Read moreThe government on Wednesday suspended the use of stun grenades by police after a teenager’s hand was blown off, while saying it was “excessive” to speak of “police repression” and denying that officers had “orders to confront” the young protesters.

The protests have rocked a government caught between popular demands for investments in deteriorating public services and pressure from markets to reduce France’s ballooning budget deficit and debt mountain, among the highest in the EU.

The economy minister, Roland Lescure, said this week there was room to address demands for more school resources in the 2027 budget. In the current draft, schools have the second-largest funding increase after defence, with a 1.4% hike to €90.9bn.

Six months away from a crucial presidential election to replace Emmanuel Macron, politicians are jockeying to exploit the protests, with the far-right frontrunner, Marine Le Pen, highlighted the damage to schools and called for parents ⁠to foot repair bills.

Her hard-left opponent, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, has praised the protesters ​as “incredible” and denounced police brutality.