French President Emmanuel Macron believes the scholars waging three weeks of protests which have closed many faculties have “legitimate” grievances however are additionally being “exploited” by political forces, a authorities spokeswoman mentioned Wednesday.
The chief, in his last six months of workplace, has requested the federal government to supply “concrete responses” to the unrest amongst highschool pupils inside weeks, spokeswoman Maud Bregeon advised reporters.
She spoke after Macron’s weekly cupboard assembly, a day after nationwide solidarity demonstrations confirmed robust help for the scholars.
The inside ministry mentioned 161,500 individuals turned out for Tuesday’s demonstrations held in Paris and different cities. Unions organising the rallies put the determine at 480,000.
Some violent scenes erupted on the sidelines of marches in Paris and Lyon, with police firing tear gasoline in response.
In his cupboard assembly, Macron “stressed that young people have legitimate concerns, but said these are being exploited for political purposes and turned into urban violence”, Bregeon mentioned.
With French presidential elections due in April and May subsequent 12 months, some opposition events have seized upon the demonstrations.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the presidential candidate for the far-left France Unbowed (LFI) social gathering, participated in one of many Paris protests.
The far-right National Rally (RN) social gathering of Marine Le Pen, main opinion polls, has voiced help for police deployed to the demonstrations and blamed college students for violent episodes.
Alleged police brutality
Students, unions, rights teams and fogeys have accused the police of brutality in opposition to the scholars, with a few of the younger protesters maimed.
The household of 1 15-year-old highschool student who misplaced his hand when a police stun grenade exploded mentioned Wednesday that they had began authorized motion to demand an “impartial” investigation.
One of the household’s legal professionals, Bertrand Wattez, mentioned the boy, Evan, denied the police account, relayed by prosecutors, that he had tried to choose up the grenade when it went off on October 5. He additionally denied participating within the student protests in his metropolis of Lens.
The lawyer mentioned that Evan not solely misplaced his left hand because of the blast but additionally a number of fingers on his proper hand.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu mentioned Wednesday that 248 college students had been injured throughout the protests, “most often in cases of urban violence”.
A complete of 937 law enforcement officials had additionally been injured, as had 149 members of instructing employees, Lecornu advised a parliamentary query session.
The premier alleged that the student motion had been “instrumentalised by the allies of France Unbowed… for electoral reasons”.
8,000 arrests
The justice ministry mentioned that just about 8,000 individuals had been arrested for the reason that protests began in late September.
It mentioned a complete of seven,950 individuals have been apprehended – 85 per cent of them minors – with costs laid in opposition to 2,735 of them. Twenty-six individuals have been remanded in custody.
In one other violent incident, a 16-year-old student was blinded in an eye fixed throughout a September 30 protest exterior his college within the western metropolis of Tours. His household blamed the police.
Late Tuesday, the prosecutor for Tours mentioned the officer concerned had been charged with aggravated battery.
Police have opened inner investigations into 36 allegations of officer violence in opposition to demonstrators, in line with the inside ministry.
Late Wednesday, the police union Alliance mentioned it had lodged a lawsuit in opposition to the federal government for “putting lives in danger” over what it termed “contradictory orders” given to officers deployed within the protests.
An announcement mentioned that officers felt “betrayed” by their political leaders due to their “unclear instructions” and what they mentioned have been public expressions of “empathy towards the rioters”.
French authorities have expressed hope that the student protest motion would ease within the coming days due to two weeks of college holidays that begin on the weekend.
The authorities mentioned 2,000 of three,000 substitute academics promised for 114 of the nation’s worst-affected faculties had already taken up their positions.
Education Minister Edouard Geffray advised parliament {that a} third of France’s 3,700 lycees – excessive faculties for college kids aged 15 to 18 – had been strongly impacted by the protests, with one other third impacted to a restricted diploma.
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