France's School Revolt Hardens After Talks With the Minister Fail
Pupil and student organisations called for further mobilisation after meeting the education minister, complaining that no concrete measures were offered; a coalition of unions is now calling for a strike on Tuesday. At least 400 of France’s 3,700 high schools were closed, with 560 reporting disruption. About 2,000 people have been detained since the movement began, the vast majority of them children.
The government’s language has shifted from education to order. The justice minister Gérald Darmanin said matters had “gone from high-school student demonstrations to a public order disturbance” and that prosecutors had been asked to hold parents liable for damage caused by their children. The education minister Édouard Geffray, having failed to settle it in the room, appealed over the organisations to the parents: “What matters now is ensuring our children are no longer out on the streets, because they are in danger,” warning them to tell their children not to go. At least 170 pupils have been hurt, along with 65 education staff including 40 head teachers, and more than a hundred schools have sustained severe damage. The grievances remain material rather than ideological — classes of up to forty, crumbling buildings, exams sat in extreme heat — which is why a meeting offering nothing concrete hardened rather than cooled it. The presidential election is six months away. Watch Tuesday.