On 17 September, the Saint-Exupéry high school in Paris’ suburbs was blockaded in support of a teacher strike, with students protesting against educational conditions they judged profoundly unequal.
Since French students began protesting for education reform last month, images have been flooding social media from all over the country. These images include the truncheons of police officers, students fallen to the ground, and a 14-year-old girl being held in a chokehold – a practice that has been banned since 2021. There is the worldwide-spread image of Saint-Denis’ mayor, Bally Bagayoko, using his body as a shield to separate law enforcement from students – much like the human chains of teachers who, during the blockades, have surrounded pupils to protect them from the police.
Elwan Benoît, a 17-year-old student who has become one of the movement’s leading figures on social media, expressed his frustration in a viral clip: ” I blame the media because the only thing they have to say about this mobilisation is that there is violence, not demands.”
The movement has since spread across France and even to universities, as the glaring lack of education funding is felt everywhere. Soumaya Sarré, one of the national movement’s organisers from early on, sums it up: “They haven’t understood that everything in the school system needs to be rebuilt.” The condition of school buildings has become a systemic problem, with many being freezing cold in winter, and sweltering in summer. Further, buildings are falling apart, experiencing leaks and having ceilings collapse. As for the staff, in September, the Syndicat National des Personnels de Direction de l’Éducation Nationale (SNPDEN) trade union, warned that “at least one teacher is missing in 65 per cent of schools.” As in echo, a placard seen in Paris read: “One teacher for 35 students, five police officers for one student?”
However, outside social media, a very different media portrayal of the mobilisation is being offered. An investigation by Acrimed, an independent media watchdog, analysed the media coverage of France 2: between 28 September and 1 October, it devoted 75 per cent of its TV news bulletin to the damage caused by protesters – such as burnt bins, vandalised bus shelters, and assaults on police officers. The students’ demands received only eight per cent of airtime, and police violence only three per cent. Similarly, on 2 October, the newspaper Le Parisien evoked “riots that no longer have anything to do with demands.”
While fostering this image of irresponsible kids protesting, too young to knowingly defend their rights, the government has allowed extreme violence to be unleashed on those very same minors. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced on television on 6 October that he was giving law enforcement “no instructions to show restraint.” As a result, 8,000 people have been taken into police custody in a month, 85 per cent of them minors. Nunez praised the “proportionality” of the police, “intervening with great tact.”
“Have you lost your minds? Have you gone mad?” Benjamin Lucas, an MP for the Ecologist and Social party, shouted in the National Assembly on 6 October. The day before, in Lens, a 15-year-old boy had lost his forearm when a stun grenade hit his hand. “I saw his arm explode,” said a witness, with tears in her eyes. France is the only country in Europe that still allows these explosives. A week earlier, 16-year-old Maël was hit in the face by a rubber bullet and lost his eye. On 28 September, in Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône, a police officer fired at point-blank range at a 14-year-old, breaking most of his teeth.
Major media outlets are starting to take police violence into account in their reporting. On Wednesday, Le Parisien brought Nunez together with seven students so they could voice their distrust of police. International reaction to the violence has also played a part in this apparent moderation: the United Nations human rights office expressed being “concerned.” There have also been demonstrations of support in schools abroad – Italy and Belgium notably. However, stun grenades, whose use had been suspended for two weeks after the “accident” in Lens, were authorised again on 17 October by the interior minister.
What should we take away from this month of mobilisation? Beyond police violence, beyond fear and anger, the movement has given rise to precious moments of joy. The hours spent dancing to ‘Emmenez-moi’ and Théodora, or the marches full of shouting and singing, with placards held proudly aloft. There is hope in the sight of a generation rising up hand-in-hand. In the words of Soumaya Sarré: “We’re just getting started.”
Photo by Pierre-Louis Mièze on Unsplash.
