PARIS: Students, staff and parents joined France’s school protests on Tuesday morning, demanding teachers, shorter days and building repairs. The interior ministry counted 86,000 marchers in cities including Marseille, Nantes and Lyon.
Meanwhile, the national union of lycée students estimated that blockades or closures affected 1,800 of France’s 3,700 high schools.
Some local education authorities attempted to move lessons online. France’s Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, ordered ministers to address the students’ central demands.
These include replacing absent teachers, reviewing school-day length and repairing ageing buildings. The movement began in Paris’s northern suburbs two weeks earlier before spreading nationwide.
Although many demonstrations have remained peaceful, some protesters have burned dustbins, damaged bus shelters and thrown projectiles at police. Officers have used batons, tear gas and riot-control rounds.
France’s education ministry recorded 24 schools burned or ransacked since the protests began. Government figures listed at least 715 injured police officers and 215 injured teenagers.
Authorities arrested 6,100 people, almost all minors, according to government figures. Meanwhile, the justice ministry counted 1,483 people under 18 facing prosecution.
Read: France School Protests Keep 400 Schools Shut on Friday
However, trade unions and rights groups have accused police of excessive force. Amnesty International urged authorities to end what it described as disproportionate repression.
Amnesty France president Anne Savinel-Barras raised concerns about tear gas, batons and police tactics. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said police had opened 10 internal investigations into alleged brutality.
In Marseille, 18-year-old marcher Océanne described missed lessons because absent teachers lacked suitable replacements. “We just want to save our education and be educated,” she said.
France’s interior ministry counted 86,000 marchers on Tuesday morning as students demanded improvements to school conditions.
