French students block dozens of schools

PARIS: French students blocked the entrances to dozens of high schools on Tuesday (Nov 10), the education ministry said, as they kept up protests for better learning conditions.

Student protests across France since September have spiralled into larger cost-of-living demonstrations in recent weeks, some marked by fringe violence and accusations of police brutality.

The unrest comes ahead of elections to replace President Emmanuel Macron next year.

With the European Union's second-largest economy under pressure to rein in debt, the government has limited scope to appease protesters through additional spending.

Forty-nine of the country's 3,700 high schools for 15 to 18-year-olds were blockaded on Tuesday morning, the ministry said. Authorities expected several thousand school and university students at a Paris protest on Tuesday afternoon.

"Now is the time to step up the mobilisation by continuing to put pressure on the government," student and teacher unions said in a joint statement released Monday.

Student association leader Ryad Rani said it was essential to keep up the pressure.

"We're not just fighting for ourselves. We're fighting for teachers, for their working conditions," he said.

The government has announced measures including the gradual replacement of an online selection platform to access higher education, as well as financial means for some of the worst off schools.

But students say this is not enough.

Unions are not happy either, with one leader saying on Monday that a government pledge to increase to the minimum wage by 0.6 per cent on top of a standard adjustment for inflation was "crumbs".

They have called for a new day of strikes and protest on Nov 17.

Around 575,000 people demonstrated across the country during cost-of-living strikes and protests last Thursday, according to authorities. Unions put the number at 1.5 million.