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Intelligence agencies claim far-left politicians helped fuel the protests.
The protests began in Paris late in September as students took to the streets over teacher shortages and dilapidated school buildings. But those protests have since spread across the country and turned violent, with dozens injured and police making hundreds of arrests.
The unrest has grown particularly bad in France’s second largest city Marseille, where two teachers were splashed by students throwing petrol into a trash bin at the Victor Hugo high school, according toMeanwhile, hundreds of young people forced firefighters to flee their truck before setting it alight outside Saint-Exupery high school. Elsewhere, at least one car was torched in Strasbourg and riot police clashed with youths in Toulouse.
Interior minister Laurent Nunez claimed some were moving from school to school to incite violence.
“Violence will not keep our students from their fundamental right to an education,” he said in a post to social media. Students have accused police of using tactics such as tear gas to disperse crowds while the government has criticised the violence, but also noted that funding difficulties in school should be addressed.
French President Emmanuel Macron called a government crisis meeting on Thursday, when intelligence agencies claimed the protests had been sparked by far-left politicians, a source told The protest movement had reached a tipping point and morphed from school blockades into urban violence, according to a readout of the crisis meeting provided by the source.
“Shared assessment by the intelligence services on the origin of the movement: an operation organised by LFI and its proxies on the far left,” the readout stated. Left wing lawmakers and local mayors have been promoting the protests by turning up in front of schools and joining the movement. LFI has refuted the government’s claims it was behind the protests.
“The government, by turning it into a political battle, has added fuel to the fire by insulting and repressing high school students. “This sense of frustration will not be dealt with through batons, it will be dealt with by showing consideration for these young people. ”
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