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Why French students are trashing the streets in protest
For weeks, high school students in France have forced a chaotic confrontation about the government’s priorities, but as CBC’s Chris Brown explains, their demands for more funding come as the country faces a precarious debt crisis.
- Nationwide demonstrations are happening in France today over the cost of living, with "yellow vest" groups, students and trade unions calling on people to take to the streets.
- France has been grappling with weeks of unrest as student-led protests calling for better conditions for learning have led to widespread school disruptions, arrests and violence.
- The prospect that they will now be joined by yellow-vest demonstrators, who organized massive protests in 2018 over rising fuel prices, has prompted concerns of more chaos.
Why are students protesting?
Protesters march from Place de la République during the latest student protests in Paris on Saturday. (Getty Images)
Many high school students say the state of their learning environment is poor, from decaying infrastructure to a lack of teachers. More than half of all schools in France are short-staffed this year, according to a survey conducted by a secondary school teachers' union.
The shortage has affected public education in France for close to a decade. The chronic failure to replace absent teachers or hire substitutes means students can miss hundreds of hours of instruction.
The students say they are also fed up with overcrowded classrooms, with an average of 25-30 students a class.
They also describe dilapidated buildings, pest infestations — including cockroaches and rats — and uninsulated classrooms severely affected by temperature shifts, particularly during recent heat waves.
Students and their supporters have taken to the streets for weeks because they feel the government is doing too little, too late. The Education Ministry will receive an additional 1.2 billion euros ($1.9 billion Cdn.) in funding next year — but that won't be enough, according to opposition parties, who say the amount barely keeps up with inflation.
Wave of protests across France over cost of living
Protesters face police officers during a demonstration to protest against the high cost of living, in Paris on Saturday as part of a nationwide call for mobilization bringing together various groups expressing their anger: former 'yellow vests,' secondary school and university students, climate activists and even farmers. (Kiran Ridley/AFP/Getty Images)
Hundreds of demonstrations over the cost of living are taking place across France today as high school students, who have been holding protests over school conditions, band together with the country's gilets jaunes (yellow vest) movement.
A website set up by the organizers of Saturday's protests shows more than 800 rallies spanning all corners of the country were planned.
In Paris, posters announcing the return of the yellow-vest movement have appeared on the streets as organizers seek to bring together grievances ranging from education and working conditions to purchasing power and the cost of living.
The prospect of yellow-vest demonstrators returning to the streets will evoke memories of the 2018 protests over high fuel prices that developed into one of the biggest challenges to Emmanuel Macron's presidency.
Some protests descended into clashes with police, including on Dec. 1, 2018, when there was rioting around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
Macron appealed for "calm and respect" on the eve of the protests, adding that the right to protest must go hand in hand with "respect for people and property," Le Monde reported Friday.
-With files from Reuters
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