French authorities seek to ban protests: Macron to meet students on Friday

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will be heading to the city this Friday to discuss the reconstruction of the town hall, as well as increasing security there. Two suspects have been arrested, one of which accused of attempted murder on police officers. Well, for more on the situation in France and the movement in favor of the country's education sector, let's speak with Isabelle Vuillet. She's co-secretary general of the CGT Education Union, one of the leading unions for people working in the public education sector. She joins us from Lyon. Thank you for being with us, Isabelle Vuillet. Emmanuel Macron is meeting with high school students and representative groups later this Friday at 3 p.m. at the Elysee Palace. What do you expect from this? And maybe what do you expect on one hand and what actually are you hoping for on the other? Young people have been demonstrating for four weeks now. So it's a great time for Emmanuel Macron to listen to us because we have claims. We have claims for several weeks now. That is to say, our claims are very clear. We protest against low pay, staff shortages, and attacks on public education. So we have exactly the same claims as these young people. So you have the same claims. You previously held a meeting with the Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu. What was that experience like? And was there, do you feel, like a genuine attempt at dialogue there? Actually, I didn't go. Sophie Binet. our General Secretary went to see Sébastien Lecornu. I should meet the Minister of Education on Monday. So we will try to say that that's enough now because education is so important, too important for our society. So it's a great time to have financial means, to have a good education, teachers to have good working education, working conditions, sorry, and for students, good studying conditions. You mentioned these conditions. Can you give us a better sense for our viewers who aren't necessarily in France and don't know the system here? What does the day-to-day look like for someone who works in French public schools? What's the infrastructure like? What are the resources like? It's simple. For example, pupils have work from 8 in the morning to 6 in the evening. So it's a huge day. So that's one of the claims to have a better schedule. And there are a lot of problems with buildings. We have got dilapidated buildings and students, when it's very cold or when it's very warm, it's totally awful to study in these conditions. You've called for a strike on November 5th, and it's been perhaps forgotten in the chaos of the last weekend. But at the root of this movement is the state of disrepair of French schools, as you said. Tell us more about what you're hoping to accomplish with that strike, and do you think it'll get a lot of following? I think these days it's very important because they are not only trade unions of education, They are trade unions of all workers' unions, labor unions. And we have exactly the same claims. And I hope we will be very numerous. And I hope that the government should listen to us. Actually, we've got the impression that the government is totally helpless. And I think it's time to make pressure on this government to be listened to. Isabelle Vuillet, you are co-secretary general of the CGT Education Union. Thank you for sharing your insights on the French public education sector with us on France 24. Thank you. Thank you.