Protests over crowded classrooms, teacher shortages and lengthy school days have spread across France, with police detaining more than 400 people, many of them minors, on Tuesday.
asserted
many → crowd → Tuesday
The movement began at high schools in the Paris area last week before expanding nationwide.
asserted
movement → begin → area
Some school blockades turned violent as protesters burned rubbish bins and hurled bottles at officers, who responded with batons and tear gas.
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who → turn → batons
Authorities said 48 law enforcement officers were injured.
asserted
officers → say → ?
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The unrest coincided with a public sector strike over the government’s budget plans, adding to political tensions and a headache for Emmanuel Macron ahead of next year’s presidential election.
asserted
unrest → divert → election
Here is what we know.
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we → know → what
What happened during the protests?
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What → happen → protests
The French education ministry says protests have affected about 400 of France’s 3,700 lycees (high schools).
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protests → say → lycees
Protests began in Paris last week, where teenagers have been blockading their schools for several days.
asserted
teenagers → begin → days
This week, demonstrations and blockades have spread around the country.
asserted
demonstrations → spread → country
On Tuesday, protesters set fire to rubbish bins outside a high school in Lille, northern France, and threw bottles, paving stones and other projectiles at police.
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protesters → set → police
Confrontations have also been reported in Bordeaux, Rennes, Nantes, Lyon and Marseille.
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Confrontations → report → Bordeaux
In some cases, officers responded with tear gas after bus shelters and advertising hoardings were vandalised.
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shelters → respond → gas
According to AFP, high school students piled up rubbish bins at the entrance to the Lycee Gabriel Guist’hau in Nantes.
uncertain
students → accord → Nantes
About 80 students gathered outside the Lamartine school in Paris, brandishing slogans complaining of getting “More hours of lessons than sleep”.
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students → gather → sleep
At the Lycee Brequigny in the northwestern city of Rennes, Brittany’s largest high school, about 100 students threw projectiles at the building, an AFP video journalist reported.
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journalist → throw → building
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told BFM TV that 440 people had been detained nationwide, although the tally was not final.
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tally → tell → TV
About two-thirds were subsequently placed in police custody, he said.
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he → place → custody
Nunez condemned protesters who arrived with their faces covered and carrying projectiles, saying there was no justification for seeking confrontations with officers.
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faces → condemn → officers
He also said there had been seven incidents in which hydrochloric acid was thrown at police.
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acid → say → police
AFP reported that police carrying riot shields struck students with batons when a crowd formed in the Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis.
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crowd → report → Denis
Vincent Latour, professor of British studies at Universite Toulouse Jean Jaures, told Al Jazeera the movement was expanding.
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movement → tell → Jazeera
“The number of secondary schools involved has doubled over the last couple of days,” he said.
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he → involve → days
Why are students protesting?
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students → protest → ?
The protests are over conditions in France’s lycees, where students generally spend their final three years of secondary education, between the ages of 15 and 18.
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students → spend → 15
Their complaints include large class sizes, absent teachers, inadequate school buildings and exhausting schedules.
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complaints → include → sizes
Outside the Lamartine lycee in Paris, students held placards protesting against their timetables, the UK’s Guardian newspaper reported.
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newspaper → hold → timetables
One read: “8am-6pm.
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One → read → 8am-6pm
Latour said the grievances had been building since heatwaves in June exposed problems with school buildings.
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heatwaves → say → buildings
“There has been discontent since successive heatwaves in June this year, which revealed the poor state of schools, with poor insulation and no air conditioning,” he said.
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he → reveal → insulation
“The current wave is happening against a background of difficult conditions: missing teachers, teachers who are absent and not replaced, continued difficult material conditions, and discontent over working conditions and pay.”
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who → happen → conditions
In Saint-Denis, north of Paris, Mayor Bally Bagayoko joined hundreds of students outside the Paul-Eluard lycee.
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Bagayoko → join → lycee
He described their protest as “completely legitimate” and said poorer areas received fewer resources than wealthier ones.
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areas → describe → ones
Latour said some students also questioned the government’s priorities, pointing to its emphasis on restrictions such as the ban on wearing the abaya in state schools.
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students → say → schools
“Some students argue they should concentrate on what matters: offering pupils and students decent learning conditions,” he said.
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he → argue → conditions
How are the protests linked to the strikes?
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protests → link → strikes
The school protests coincided with a nationwide public-sector strike against the government’s proposed budget, which includes 54 billion euros ($61.3bn) of funding cuts and savings.
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which → coincide → cuts
Caroline Cheve, secretary-general of the FSU education union federation, said pupils and teachers essentially shared the same frustrations.
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pupils → say → frustrations
“They’re in overcrowded classrooms.
asserted
They → ’re → classrooms
Sometimes they don’t have enough teachers because of staffing shortages.
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they → have → shortages
…and 24 more, not listed.
The Aporia
