Students and Edinburgh community members gathered outside the French Consulate on the evening of 6 September to show solidarity with students fighting deteriorating education standards in France.
Organized by the Edinburgh Socialist Worker Student Society (SWSS), the protest brought together a crowd of about 30 people who spoke, listened, and chanted in support of educational reform in France and the Edinburgh University and College Union strikes.
An SWSS member stated: “We’ve organized these demonstrations today across the UK, not just because we want to provide our support, but because we want to bring the revolt here […] Because we see the battle in France, and we want to fight alongside the French, and we want to win.”
Among those in attendance were many French students studying at the University of Edinburgh.
An exchange student from Paris told The Student: “I really want to show my solidarity because my friends [in France] are on the streets and they’re taking risks to do it. The situation is really shocking, especially with police violence.”
Another student from Paris said that students are fighting for their futures as much as their education:
“I think that’s one of the many reasons actually why students protest, because they lack hope.”
One post-graduate student at the University of Edinburgh called on students at Edinburgh and in France alike to join the fight. She held a sign stating, “Let’s Dance the Carmagnole!” a reference to a French revolutionary song and dance from the 1790s.
Addressing the crowd, she recalled blockading a high school in France in 2018 when similar riots took place: “There was blood on the street, and I remember the media telling us that we were being disruptive.”
“If you’re a student in France, if you’re a student here in Edinburgh, please be louder.”
Image by Sophie Loiacano for The Student
