Thousands of students, teachers and parents protested in Saint-Denis, near Paris, on Thursday over alleged police violence during an attempted arrest of a student inside Paul-Eluard High School.
Footage shows protesters marching with banners, waving flags and chanting slogans. Some can also be seen holding placards reading ‘We want the diploma, not the police squad’ and ‘It is dark in the land of lights’.
Protesters gathered in Aubervilliers before marching to the police station, where CRS riot police officers were deployed.
“We refuse to go to work and see our students get their faces smashed in, come back with skull fractures, get tear-gassed,” said Nabil, a special teaching assistant. “We say no to this repression.”
Armelle, a teacher at Lycee Paul-Eluard high school, said she feared for her students’ safety at the police station.
“I don’t want to teach if, on their way from the school gate to my classroom, they could be summoned by the principal and then arrested by the police,” she added.
Marie, a parent of a student at Lycee Paul-Eluard, criticised the police for their handling of the student protests and accused officers of using excessive force against young demonstrators.
“Children are being brutalised. It is completely unacceptable,” said Marie. “It feels like we have left democracy behind. We stand with the young people. We want them to have a future that isn’t marked by bloodshed.”
The demonstration was triggered by a police attempt to arrest a student inside Paul-Eluard High School, during ongoing protests over school conditions.
Teachers intervened, accusing officers of violence, while police maintained that they had entered at the school’s request, according to media reports.
Nearly 8,000 people have been arrested, while police union UNITE says 937 officers have been injured over three weeks. More than 170 students have also reportedly been injured, with police facing accusations of excessive force during the unrest.
Since late September, students have blocked entrances to hundreds of schools across France, demanding action over teacher absences, overloaded timetables, ageing classrooms and buildings poorly equipped to cope with rising temperatures.
The protests have also spread to other European countries, with students striking over underfunding of public education systems.
Source: Viory
