France is preparing for a new nationwide wave of student demonstrations on Tuesday, October 6, with high school and university organizations calling for protests and further mobilization across the country.
The movement began with a blockade at a high school in Créteil in September over vacant staff positions before spreading through the Paris suburbs and eventually across France. Le Monde reports that the movement has become one of the country's most significant teenage mobilizations in decades.
Students are protesting against teacher and staff shortages, overcrowded classrooms, deteriorating school buildings and difficult timetables. Opposition to Parcoursup, France's university admissions system, has also become part of the demonstrations.
The scale of the movement has already been substantial. More than 1,000 schools were involved in protests or disruptions on October 1, according to Le Monde, representing roughly one in four establishments. Some demonstrations have also been accompanied by tense confrontations with police.
Attention is now turning to Tuesday.
In Paris, a demonstration is scheduled to leave Place de la République at 2 p.m. Similar actions are planned elsewhere, including Grenoble, where education unions, student organizations and parents have called for a demonstration beginning at Place Victor Hugo at 11 a.m.
The FCPE, France's major federation of parents' associations, said on Monday that the students' demands must be heard and confirmed that the movement continues to gain support.
The protests come after several days of controversy surrounding police interventions at school blockades. Le Monde reported that France's rights watchdog became involved following the injury of a minor, while the police oversight body IGPN has been asked to investigate several cases involving injured students.
Tuesday could therefore become an important test of whether the movement continues to expand or begins to lose momentum.
With demonstrations expected in several French cities and education workers also being encouraged by unions to participate, authorities, parents and students will be closely watching how the October 6 mobilization unfolds.
