Demonstrators clash with riot police in France as education protests mount

Police have fired tear gas at protesters blockading French high schools as tens of thousands of students and activists rally across France in a mounting wave of protests demanding government improvements to the education system.

Students in Marseille, Nantes and Lyon began demonstrations on Tuesday morning, with demonstrators holding aloft signs which read “they don’t really care about us” and “survive or study”.

In Strasbourg, Lyon and Rennes, the protests turned violent at times, with police firing tear gas and protesters lighting fires in the streets and hurling projectiles.

The protests started two weeks ago in Paris’s disadvantaged suburbs, lighting a blaze that has spread across the country. The government said that the movement has turned into urban violence and has deployed riot police to some rallies.

Hand blown off

On Monday, a 15-year-old’s hand was blown off during clashes between high-schoolers and the police in northern France. The government said that around 200 to 250 protesters had thrown objects at the police.

A French newspaper, La Voix du Nord said that the teenager lost his hand and part of his arm after he picked a police grenade during the protest.

Nearly 2,000 high schools have been blockaded or closed for the day, according to the High School Students Union.

“When the answer is violence, it means democracy is no longer working,” said Hugo Vetzel, a recent high school graduate in Strasbourg preparing to attend France’s top universities. “There is such a gap between the elites and us.”

‘Troublemakers’

Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler who was at a march in Paris said more groups are joining the demonstrations.

“We’re seeing people from various unions, like the farmers union, energy workers, teachers unions who’ve also said they’re going to come out in support of the students.” Butler said.

“Parents and teachers said they want to be here not just to support their children but to protect them as they are worried about troublemakers who may infiltrate the protests and excessive police force” Butler added.

Al Jazeera’s Rosie Birchard was at a demonstration in Lille and said students from neighbouring Belgium came to show support.

Government pledges

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has ordered ministers to address the students’ demands, including replacing underskilled teachers, making lunch breaks longer and changing the length of the school day.

Lecornu also said that the government will look into repairing old campuses, as he demanded ministers send in proposals by the end of October. But there are doubts about how quickly the government can respond.

“France is riddled with debt, France has a real budget crisis. Where would that money come from to put budget into public services” Al Jazeera’s Butler said.

France’s Ministry of Interior said that it has arrested 6,100 people since the beginning of the protests, the majority of them under the age of eighteen. The Ministry of Justice announced that over 1,800 will be prosecuted, including 1,483 minors.

During the protests, at least 215 teenagers have been wounded along with 715 police officers, according to Lecornu.