France is currently bracing itself for fresh student demonstrations supporting students who have been protesting poor classroom conditions.
Students in France have been protesting poor classroom conditions, and authorities and participants are wary of further violence, RTE has reported.
The planned demonstration comes on the heels of last week’s protests, which saw over 70,000 people take to the streets and roughly 500 arrests.
Accoring to RTE, French authorities had been hoping that the student protests were starting to ease ahead of the upcoming half-term holidays.
Student-led demonstrations have involved using dumpsters and barricades to block high school entrances, periodically leading to skirmishes with police.
According to the education ministry, only 130 of France's 3,700 schools were forced to shut down yesterday.
However, officials noted that while total closures are decreasing, the level of violence is escalating, leaving eight school staff members injured yesterday primarily across Paris, Bordeaux, and Lyon.
While majority of the protests have been peaceful, students have said via RTE that they are determined to press the government to address the issues of too many absent teachers, overcrowded class schedules and other grievances.
The French police have been accused by the students of using a disproportionate use of force.
Multiple police officers and educators have sustained injuries, with officials reporting that improvised pyrotechnic attacks fireworks launched through tubes injured two school staff members in Reims, another in a Paris suburb, and a police officer stationed outside a Marseille school.
Today’s student-led demonstrations precede broader public rallies against the rising cost of living scheduled for Saturday.
According to RTE, President Emmanuel Macron said that the issues students were protesting would take time to address and urged restraint from protesters.
"These are issues that deserve time, consultations, discussion and respect," Macron said.
Following last week's nationwide protests, the government pledged to deploy approximately 3,000 substitute teachers to cover for absent staff across 114 severely impacted high schools, with a government spokesperson confirming yesterday that assignments are underway.
However, the national students' union dismissed the plan as "crumbs," holding out for a €10 billion injection into the lycée system.
Meanwhile, some parents and students expressed concern over missed class time, with a few questioning whether youth are being exploited as political pawns by opposition parties.
