France: Student protesters want to 'keep the pressure up on the government'

Well, this Tuesday then marks the fifth installment of nationwide protests against subpar learning conditions here in France. According to student unions, as much as 90% of universities are blockaded today in another major show then of support for the high school led movement. But the vast majority of high schools nonetheless remain open today. Only about 200 of them, that's just about 5%, are closed due to the demonstrations. And it's worth mentioning that that is indeed far fewer than at the height of the movement last week. Still, tens of thousands of protesters gathered today in France's biggest cities, including Marseille, Lyon, Nantes, Strasbourg, and of course here in Paris. Take a listen to what some of those present had to say. This mobilization has been going on for weeks all over France, and yet we're yet to have any real concrete response. There are these 3,000 supply teachers, but that's not a real solution. These are teachers on contracts that mean there are maths teachers who are going to end up teaching literature and will be putting us through our French exams. We're fed up of being ignored and the mobilisation will continue until we're listened to. We need more teachers, we need more furnitures, we need school nurseries. We miss a lot of things. There are high schools in the suburbs that are completely almost abandoned. There are rats, cockroaches, things like that. It's their future that's at stake. And I think it's good at their age to realize that their future is in their own hands, very simply. Well, for more on today's protests here in the capital, we'll cross to France 24's Claire Pacalan reporting then from the demonstrations. Hi there, Claire. So there are two major protests actually planned in Paris. What have you been seeing? What are you hearing from protesters? So I've been walking alongside protesters who left from the Place de la République, and they are making their way now. You should be able to see the marches as they walk towards the 17th arrondissement, which is in the 7th arrondissement. And I've been speaking to a lot of different people, and what's interesting is there's a big diversity of people here. Of course, there are high school students. I spoke to several who told me that they've come from the 94th. So that's the department where Créteil is situated, and that's the town, the Parisian suburb, where this all began, where the first lycée, the first high school was blockaded. And they tell me they've been there since the start, and they plan to continue. They want to keep the pressure up on the government. I've also been speaking to workers. We were speaking to my colleague Pauline Gourard from the French Channel. We're speaking to Claire and Pascal. Pascal is a mechanic. Claire works for a chemicals company. And they said they're simply here because they want to support young people. They said it feels good to see young people in the street out demonstrating, trying to get their voices heard. The government says it is listening. The government has come up with some proposals and says more concrete ones will be announced at the end of the month. People here want to keep the pressure up on the government and continue getting their voices heard. So, Claire, what do you make of turnout? I mean, we know that just about 5 percent of high schools are closed today. Again, that's fewer than at the height of the movement last week. Are you under the impression that there's a significant turnout today? And I imagine the protesters then are very much planning to continue, despite school holidays, two weeks of school vacations that'll start next week. Well, let me just show you here. The group of demonstrators who I was with just now have been joined by another group of young people who've come from a side street and they are joining. This demonstration is getting bigger and bigger. It was another one started at Hôtel de Ville and joined at Porte Réaume. So what you're seeing is this main demonstration, which I'm part of, which I'm following, the left from Place d'Italie, is getting bigger and bigger as more high school students from different parts of Paris join it. What I would say when it comes to Saturday, the demonstration on Saturday, that's a bit more of an unknown. I've been speaking to young people who've been telling me their parents don't want them to go because we know that the Yellow Vest protesters, the Gilets Jaunes, some will be present. And in the past, Gilets Jaunes demonstrations have been marked by unrest. But I've been also speaking to young people who say, no, we will be there on Saturday because we've been supported so far by the trade unions, by adults, they say, by grownups who've been supporting our movement. So we're going to turn out on Saturday and support them. People telling me there's a kind of convergence of ideas with people from different parts of France, cross sectors will be coming together on Saturday to demonstrate. We don't yet know where the demonstration will be taking place or the route it's going to take. It's very much an ad hoc grassroots movement for now. What's interesting is that here, certainly what we can see, and we can see if we can just turn the camera around, that this demonstration is continuing, and there are plenty of young people who have turned out and are heading now to the Place Vauban in the 7th arrondissement, just near Les Invalides. Claire Pacalan, our reporter at the demonstrations here in Paris. Thank you very much.