Speaker A
So, how did Greta Thunberg end up in front of this high school in Saint-Denis? And how did this anger begin? I have five days to try to tell you everything.
High school students across France mobilize to protest poor education conditions and demand reforms ahead of the presidential election.
Key Takeaways
- French high school students are mobilizing nationwide to protest deteriorating education conditions.
- The movement transcends political affiliations and focuses on fundamental rights and equality in education.
- Social media amplifies student voices and exposes systemic issues in schools.
- There is significant concern about police violence against protesting students.
- The protests highlight urgent demands for increased funding, teacher replacements, and improved facilities.
What the video covers
- The video explores the origins and escalation of student protests starting in Créteil and spreading across France.
- Students and teachers highlight severe shortages of resources, including missing teachers and overcrowded classrooms.
- The movement is described as apolitical, driven by high school students demanding better education conditions.
- Social media played a key role in spreading footage and testimonies from students nationwide.
- The protests involve thousands of students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds uniting for common demands.
- Students express frustration over neglect by authorities and media focus on violence rather than their grievances.
- The video features interviews with students like Fanny, who organize mobilizations and articulate their demands.
- Parents and teachers show support, emphasizing the emotional and financial strain on educators.
- The video documents incidents of police violence against students and ongoing investigations into these cases.
- The protests reflect a broader democratic awakening among youth concerned about social inequalities and future prospects.
Chapters
- 00:00Origins of the Student Protests
- 01:29Listening to Students, Parents, and Teachers
- 02:36Student Mobilization in Nantes
- 05:32Challenges in Schools and Social Inequalities
- 06:51Student Demands and Organizing Strategies
- 07:44Violence and Media Perception
- 08:53Parental Perspectives and Support
- 11:27Historical Context and Broader Movement
- 12:55Police Violence and Legal Investigations
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
It all started here in Créteil, in the Val-de-Marne. In front of this school of 1,000 students, the first gatherings and rising anger. We're here, we just want to protest, we don't enjoy it, we've had enough.
Speaker A
The high school students and teachers of Saint-Exupéry want more resources together. Many of us don't have teachers. Some are taking the French baccalaureate without a French teacher.
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Some are taking the math baccalaureate without a math teacher. Filmed by the students, images of the first mobilizations spread on social media. In 72 hours, the blockades multiplied, first in front of schools in the Paris suburbs, then across all
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of France. In one week, more than 400 high schools and 27 universities ended up at a standstill.
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We are left with nothing, as if we children of the suburbs don't matter. I went to meet these students who are primarily asking to be heard. This isn't a movement of the left, the right, the far-right, or the far-left. It's
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a high school student movement. You've already seen the footage of the unrest and the violence.
Speaker A
But today, we're going to take the time to listen to the students, their parents, and their teachers.
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I am on the sidewalk with my students to protect them. That's it, to show that it's not just the students who are concerned.
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According to the latest international PISA ranking, the academic level of French students has never been this low since the study launched in 2000.
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For example, at the start of the year, there were 35 of us in our class and some people didn't even know where to sit.
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Not enough chairs. Exactly. So, a few months before the presidential election, these young people are asking: how can we make education a priority again? This morning on social media and by email, I'm receiving a huge number of testimonies. Let's be clear, even in
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the heart of the Yellow Vest crisis, I had never received so many messages or videos in so few days. Thousands of students wrote to us to talk about their blockades, but above all to denounce their teaching conditions.
Speaker A
Hello, I'm writing to you regarding the blockades at my high school. Good evening Hugo, I am a spokesperson for the students mobilized in the Sarcelles area.
Speaker A
Hi Hugo, I'm a student at a high school in the 27 department. I haven't had a homeroom teacher since September 1st, so, well, since the start of the school year.
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I wanted to make this message regarding my high school. It is designed for 1,000 students. Today, there are 1,800 of us in this high school and half of the portable classrooms have been there since 1991.
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On social media, we are witnessing the democratic awakening of a generation of high school students. When a class is overcrowded, that’s politics. When teachers are missing, that’s politics. That Parcoursup determines part of our future, that’s politics.
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The one speaking in front of her school is named Fanny. She is 16 years old. We are going to try to better understand her demands. So, heading to Nantes to meet her. Today, we don't have an appointment in front of a high school
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but on a university campus in Nantes. OK. We’re going to start in five minutes. If everyone could sit down and start being quiet. Fanny represents the Jean-Perrin high school in Rezé in the Nantes suburbs. It is just 10 a.m. and
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there are hundreds of high school students gathered right behind me to organize this week's mobilization. And for many of the students present here, it's really the first time they are participating in this kind of mobilization and demonstration.
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These young people who are revolting, it’s because they have no other place to express themselves, no other space to be able to speak. It’s going well.
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Are you able to estimate the number of people here or not? I think we're like 300, something like that.
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And so, what is the agenda today? Uh, well, how do we build the mobilization that will follow? How do we organize the marches? What are the high school students' demands?
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Do you know what democracy means? Demos kratos, power to the people. But where is the power to the people that we hear about constantly? So all together, we will fight until we force them to respect the fundamental rights of this
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Republic. Strength and honor, and long live France. Those who are in favor of continuing the mobilizations this week, raise your hand please. Who is against? Who abstains? It’s democratically voted.
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Everyone voted in favor. A few last little things, please. And in this gathering, I meet high school students who aren't necessarily used to crossing paths. For some, their schools are located in working-class neighborhoods of the city while others
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are in more affluent areas. Why is it important for you to be here today?
Speaker A
It's a whole. We are a whole, actually. We aren't just the students from Camus or whatever. It's all the high school students. We are all, even the teachers, concerned by this subject. There are water leaks, we are sweating in class.
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Either we are too hot, or we are too cold. Having classes in overcrowded rooms with 35 to 37 students is harsh. Uh, increasing social inequalities through an education system that doesn't allow for equal opportunity is super harsh.
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We are clearly not being heard. Actually, we are a youth that is being neglected. Uh, the media generally only gets interested when there are trash cans burning; when there are peaceful protests to claim rights, no one listens to them.
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At a certain point, if we have to burn things, we will do it. I'm sorry, but budget cuts to education are the last thing we need. We need new facilities, we need new chairs, and teachers who are replaced. Last year, I had, we had
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zero history classes. Because a teacher left. We had two months, she left, then we had a substitute for a week and we had no history class. Listen, and you, are you afraid for your own future or?
Speaker A
I'm afraid for everyone. Uh, I'm going to tell you something. Uh, my mother is a teacher. I see my mother come home crying because she doesn't earn enough to provide for our needs. She is a single mom, she is on a contract. So,
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every year, she doesn't know if she will have a high school, etc. Every year, it's stress. And that's mainly what I notice and what touches me, and it makes me want to get involved too.
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The banner. Yeah. What did you write on your banner? Who had the idea to stand on a slope to do this?
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I am here to defend our rights. Young people need us. Have a good day.
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30 minutes from the campus, Fanny wants to show me her school. Is that your high school?
Speaker A
Yeah. And it's calm here today because it's closed. Is that right? Yeah. There's nobody here. It's closed.
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I don't even know if the principal is there. What do you think, by the way, about closing the high school like this?
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Well, let's say that for ours, it was a little bit the only way to, well, first of all, repair the damage that occurred inside when people broke in.
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Was there damage inside too? Yeah. Yeah. Actually, it's that some people broke into the high school and ended up trashing classrooms, and here, you can see some windows that were broken.
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How do you look at the way you feel this movement is perceived, either by adults, the media, or politicians? How do you judge it?
Speaker A
Well, actually, they keep asking us, "Do you condemn the violence?" Is it— it's not even a question, really. I mean, how can you ask if we condemn violence? Of course we condemn violence, but the one we condemn above all else
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is state violence. When you see footage of police officers shooting at children, and some of them have lost teeth. I mean, these are real things that are happening, and we hear much less about them than trash cans being burned. When
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you have more empathy for a trash can than for a child, I think you need to ask yourself some questions.
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Oh, my dad already opened the door. Fanny lives in La Montagne, a town near Nantes.
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Ni
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During the legislative elections—that was a little while ago—I had actually repurposed an old French painting, * Liberty Leading the People*. There, it was a bit of my stance regarding the legislative elections, regarding the questions I was asking myself about
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what was happening in France at that time. Fanny has a twin sister named Marie Loup, and she goes to a different high school.
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Marie Loup, how do you see Fanny's involvement in this matter? Do you talk about it together, or how do you view it?
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I admit, I don't think I'm one of the people who will be the most involved today or even in the future, but I will still be among those who are present to help the people who might have more
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courage to show up and demand our rights, because these are everyone's rights. It's not just the students' rights. While talking with Fanny and Marie Loup, I realize that the two sisters share the same feeling: that of having lost all control over their
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future. Are there things among your demands and the issues that are wrong that go beyond the question of high schools?
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We are entering a world where everything is literally falling apart. The system just doesn't work anymore.
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It needs to be changed, and we're the first to experience it as teens and young people, with the rise in mental health issues that just never stop. And well, there's also all this talk about artificial intelligence, where we've
Speaker A
been given these tools that are actually quite good. They are tools that can be used very well, but we're being asked to study for a job that might not even exist in 10 years.
Speaker A
And how do you feel about your daughter participating in this movement like this? We still have that typical parental fear of things potentially going wrong, especially during protests .
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Do you talk about that together, or not too much? Yeah, not too much. I think this point of apprehension that I might have, I haven't really expressed it either.
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Yeah. Among other things, to avoid passing it on to her too much. Yeah. So now it's done. I've warned them that I might not be at my workplace tomorrow .
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Oh, right, you want to come to the protest? Well, maybe tomorrow morning. Yes. And how do you feel when you see, for example, that your father is potentially going to come? Well, I didn't know, so I was surprised because
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, well, it's still a day's salary that you lose. And it just shows that the commitment has really grown, because it's been a long time since I've seen you go to a protest, so...
Speaker A
Ah yes, it's been a long time. Yes. Actually, you've never seen me. This movement is unprecedented because it started very early, only a few weeks after the start of the school year. It also comes just months before a
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presidential election. That had never happened in France before. Historically , there was May '68, a major student revolt movement. But at that time, high school students had also taken to the streets.
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At 6:30 PM, there are 30,000 protesters at Place Denfert-Rochereau. Students joined high schoolers. In April 1973, students protested en masse against a law imposing military service at 21.
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Right now, there is a high school movement directed solely against the Debré law. In November 1990, high school students denounced their teaching conditions. They then obtained an emergency plan from the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand, worth 4.5 billion francs. In 2006, for
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three months, students and high schoolers mobilized against the CPE, the first-hire contract. Depending on the source, between 1 and 3 million protesters marched through the streets of France. The government would eventually back down. Finally, in December 2018, in the middle of the
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Yellow Vests crisis, high schoolers denounced the baccalaureate reform and the creation of Parcoursup. With this reform, we are off to a bad start for getting into a good university. All the major universities, we can say goodbye to them if it
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continues like this. And, by the way, the abolition of Parcoursup is still among the demands we hear today.
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Let me introduce you to Bilel, he is 17 years old and is in his senior year in Saint-Denis.
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I am revolted, like my classmates, like all the high schoolers at the school and I think a bit everywhere. We are revolted.
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Regularly invited to testify about the state of his high school, notably before the media, Bilel insists on wearing a cockade on his jacket.
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The cockade signifies, first of all, the Republic: blue, white, red, liberty , equality, fraternity. But when we see the far-right appropriating this today, it is important to reclaim symbols like the Marseillaise and the cockade through protests and through, well, us,
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because above all we are French. His high school is called Paul Éluard, the Saint-Denis institution I was telling you about at the very beginning of this video. And it was chosen by environmental activist Greta Thunberg to show her support for French students
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, including Bilel. And inside, it looks like this. In these images, which date from 2023, we can see in detail the state of disrepair. Rats in the hallways, water-logged walls that are crumbling. A suspended ceiling that is collapsing. Since then, work has been
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undertaken, but the condition of the buildings remains worrying. If we look at the national baccalaureate results, the Paul Éluard high school is ranked 2,282 nd out of 2,295 general high schools. Bilel leaves Saint-Denis heading toward the Place de la
Speaker A
République in Paris. A day of protest here in Paris. There are thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of high schoolers who planned to gather. Hi, are you doing well?
Speaker A
I'm doing well, and you? Did you just get here or have you been here for a while?
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And you, are you meeting up with friends, or are you on your own today, or are you...
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No, I'm joining my fellow high school students and also the teachers and everyone from the Paul Éluard bloc.
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because how long has your high school been blockaded for? Since Friday actually, we followed we followed the mobilization just after Créteil.
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For Bilel, it's a first. On that day, he discovers the atmosphere and the crowd of a major protest.
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In France, a total of more than 250,000 young people are marching according to the Interior Ministry. More than 450,000 according to the unions.
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Can you tell me a little about the situation at your high school? What is it like? We are short on staff.
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Teachers aren't being replaced. Last year, there was a classmate of mine who didn't have a philosophy teacher all year even though even though she had to take the philosophy baccalaureate exam at the end of the year. So uh
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so she was in her final year, she was taking the philosophy baccalaureate, she had no n-a nurse who is only present part-time, no psychologist, for over 1,000 students nonetheless. Our movement is apolitical today. We are fighting for our rights.
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And yet, it is a political subject. Certainly, it is politics, but when I say politics, I mean we aren't affiliated with LFI, we aren't affiliated with fringe groups or anything else. Actually, it's just high schoolers who are out here and who are
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fed up. In the march, Bilel joins teachers from his high school who are standing in solidarity with their students.
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Why is it important for you to be here today? What makes you angry about the current situation?
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That they don't listen to the young people, that they beat them instead of listening to them, even though we've been denouncing for years what they are all denouncing now. A bit like the frog that got used year after year to being
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in a bath that keeps getting hotter. Now, the pot is boiling and we are getting out of the pot. And there's no surprise on your part that one day it would happen?
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I even wonder why it didn't explode sooner and and well, we're happy that now finally we have the impression that at least they are listened to, heard, I don't know. What strikes me that day at the protest is
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the significant presence of adults who came to support the students. Like in front of the high schools, including Bilel's, we saw parents, teachers, and elected officials forming lines to protect the young people.
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Our own teachers who went on strike and who protected us—to tell you, they sent riot police to beat up civil servants. Actually, you are going to hit people who work for the same employer as you. They are asking for
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more teacher civil servants, they are asking for more police civil servants. The high school students I met that day are denouncing an educational system on its last legs. But then, do the figures confirm what the students are telling
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us? First, classes are overcrowded in public secondary schools. There are more than 30 students per class in 70% of cases. Another problem, the volume of unprovided teaching hours is nearly 10%. For public secondary schools, that is the equivalent of 20 million hours
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of class not provided to students last year. After two days alongside the high school students, this morning I am hosting Édouard Gef, the Minister of National Education.
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The day is busy. Hello Jeffrey. Hello. Thank you for accepting this invitation . Before starting, I still wanted to ask you about what might have happened near certain high schools in recent days. Maë, 16, lost the use of her eye
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after a shot consistent with that of a rubber bullet launcher. Eden, 14 years old, had his jaw fractured after being hit by a tear gas grenade. Another youth in Lens had his hand blown off by another grenade. More broadly,
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authorities report many injuries, which we will cite here to be thorough. Uh, 85 school staff—the figure may have changed yesterday—over 700 law enforcement officers, and more than 215 students also, uh, injured. This last figure is likely underestimated because
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counts are perhaps more difficult for students on a daily basis; when we see these situations multiplying, is there not a huge failure on the part of the government in managing such a situation ?
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And what is really happening when there is violence? Something very specific: it is not the high school students who are violent at the start. We have people arriving at 7 a.m. in cars, dressed entirely in black, hooded, with
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mortars, slipping in among the young people and firing mortars in all directions. But we have been in a context these last few days where, in fact, our high school students and their demands found themselves infiltrated and hijacked by small
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groups who are actually looking for a fight. Have there not been major mistakes on the part of the government here? We have listed several cases here, as we said, high school students who ended up mutilated, serious situations, in some
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cases staff too, as you said, who were targeted. Two things. First, law enforcement agencies receive instructions from the government. The government's instructions, or rather those from the Interior Ministry, are very clearly instructions of proportionality. If you have people who have behaviors, I would
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say individual ones, that do not fall within the legal framework, if a police officer acts outside the legal framework, then there is an inspection and if it is proven, there is prosecution.
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As of October 14, according to the Interior Ministry, 36 proceedings have been opened by the IGPN, the police oversight body. That is as many ongoing investigations into police violence against minors.
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Thank you, that's me. Thank you. Thank you. Hello everyone. We are all five lawyers . We are coming out of a 4th day of mobilization where we have again crisscrossed police stations and courts to assist numerous high school students
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who were placed in police custody, whether here in Saint-Denis, but also in Bobigny, Sarcelles, Gonesse, and Sevran.
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Roman Bartoli is 28 years old. Her collective brings together young lawyers who assist high school students arrested in the Île-de-France region.
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And for the past two weeks, her phone hasn't stopped ringing. The mother doesn't have the police station's number. Ah, they say they don't have it . OK.
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Parents or teachers call her, worried about their students. He is a minor. That day, the lawyer went to the police station in the 20th arrondissement.
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Roman and the other lawyers of the Action Judiciaire collective denounce what they describe as unprecedented. As of October 14, according to the Interior Ministry, more than 6,800 people have been arrested, 85%of whom are minors.
Speaker A
Hello, nice to meet you. How are you? Nice to meet you. So you are coming out of the police station, is that right? I'm coming out of custody duty. I just assisted someone who was arrested at the demonstration this Tuesday. It's a bit
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of a peculiar case because, in fact, there were so many people in custody that they had to let him out and summon him back this morning for custody. It is extremely unprecedented. Normally, it never happens like this. He got out,
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went back in, got out again and went back in, it makes no sense. Regarding the number of people in police custody, we are seeing quite significant figures, with many media outlets headlining record numbers. What do you observe about this and how do
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you explain it? Well indeed, we have figures that are, uh, mind-boggling. You should know that on the day of October 1st, uh, the figure was 1,945 arrests. I personally looked, and I haven't found in the history of the 5th
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Republic a day where there were as many arrests. So actually, we have police stations all over the Île-de-France that have been filled for about ten days with, uh, tons of minors who actually just, uh, demanded a future, uh, a different future.
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In general, for what type of offense are the young people who are placed in police custody? What is, what is put forward?
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For example, uh, participation in a group with the intent to commit a crime . So, in fact, it's just being in a place where there is a protest. Since last Friday, at the order of the Minister of the Interior, many prefects
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have issued decrees banning gatherings near schools, so the very fact that a young person is near their school if they are with other high school students, uh, creates a new offense. So there are a lot of things like that.
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Meaning many offenses that are actually created to suppress. What the government wants to do is try to take away this entire generation's desire to remobilize.
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The aftermath of the high school movement is even being watched by the United Nations. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says it is following with concern the incidents linked to the demonstrations in France and calls for a proportionate use of
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force. day Back in Saint-Denis, a few hundred meters from the Paul Éluard high school, I meet up with Bilel and that evening, he is refereeing a training session for a women's rugby team.
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Are you doing well? I'm fine, and you? I'm doing well. A little change of scenery and, and outfit. Yeah.
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Is it going well? Very well. Have you been doing it for a long time, do you also play rugby or do you just ref?
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stopped. I played when I was younger. OK. And refereeing has been a year now.
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OK. That's great. Is it going okay, do you get, do you get respected when they don't respect me. I pull out the card and right away. No, you have to be very strict in refereeing, especially when you're young.
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They tend to eat you up quickly, especially the coaches. So you have to set you have to set a framework. Yeah.
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OK. Once I've touched from the front, I put my knee on the ground. There, there, there, there, there. I saw you as a protester.
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Yeah, it's the revolution. I saw myself back in my, in my senior year. But we also unblocked things. No no, but it's heated, this moment.
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With his experience over the last few days, Bilel is now asking himself questions about his professional future . Are there any jobs, things that interest you? Yes, for me later on, I want to become a police commissioner, so with everything happening right now
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with the high school mobilizations it’s a bit complicated, but on the side, we still hold onto that childhood dream of joining law enforcement.
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What makes it seem complicated today, from your perspective? Today it's complicated because we see what’s happening, especially the violence. I was a witness to it; I wasn’t expecting that kind of violence against young people, and such violent arrests. There were four or
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more of them on a 15-year-old kid, gassing him, tasing him, beating him with batons, and I didn't really have that knowledge of how recurrent this violence was, and when I saw it with my own eyes, I was outraged and shocked by
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it. Fanny in Nantes and Bilel in Saint-Denis didn't grow up in the same place, but they reach the same conclusion.
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Thank you very much. That of an education system that has become unequal. Well, enjoy your meal, thanks.
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And you, do you feel like you suffer a bit from the way people look at, well, young people from the suburbs and so on , and all the clichés that people attach to that? We certainly suffer from it today, but we ourselves must
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break out of these stereotypes and the things we’re being boxed into. What makes me proud today is seeing my classmates here and, especially, seeing them speak up when they were less daring before, moving past that and showing that, well, we’re appearing
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on TV networks, that we’re eloquent and that, well, that it’s us, we are the future, actually. You have to always have that ambition, to keep on dreaming. It’s important to dream today, especially in the suburbs. So, how can we achieve equal opportunity?
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How can we give meaning back to the word meritocracy? A few months before the presidential election, high school students are putting these questions back at the heart of the debate. Perfect.
Topics:French student protestseducation crisis Francehigh school mobilizationteacher shortagesschool overcrowdingstudent activismpolice violencesocial inequalitiesyouth democracyGreta Thunberg
