PARIS, Sept 30 (Reuters) – Dozens of people have been injured so far in a wave of student demonstrations, France’s Education Minister Edouard Geffray said on Wednesday, as students continued to protest against dilapidated schools, insufficient resources and stressful exams.
Television images showed lines of police officers in Lyon and students standing outside their schools in Lille as well as Saint-Denis north of Paris. People set garbage cans and other materials on fire in Lille and Lyon and, in Lille, some people were throwing projectiles.
“Since the beginning of these demonstrations, we have had 76 injuries, both among students and personnel,” Geffray told RTL radio.
The demonstrations and blockades, which began last week and coincided on Tuesday with a broader public-sector strike, have become a political flashpoint at a sensitive moment for France. On Thursday, the government will unveil the country’s 2027 budget which is expected to involve spending cuts aimed at easing pressure on government finances.
Politicians from the hard-left France Unbowed party have joined demonstrations, and officials and politicians from outside their camp have denounced the party for rhetoric they said was stoking students’ anger. Bally Bagayoko, the France Unbowed mayor at the centre of the controversy, has said his words have been taken out of context.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told broadcaster BFM that some 440 people were detained over protests on Tuesday, most of them minors. Nunez said there were also seven incidents in which people threw hydrochloric acid at law enforcement.
According to the OECD, French spending on primary and secondary education was in the middle of the range among member countries and it increased between 2015 and 2022, but its share of the budget has slightly decreased.
The protesting students say classrooms are overcrowded and there are not enough teachers. The government has said the protests are irresponsible but that difficulties in high schools should be acknowledged and addressed.
(Reporting by Makini Brice and Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
