France: Police clash with protesters at Paris student rally

Thousands of students demonstrated near Bastille Square in Paris on Thursday afternoon, as France's nationwide student protests continue.

Crowds of students climbed the famous Bastille Monument. Some waved the French flag and sang the national anthem.

Footage from Reuters TV showed riot police charging at protesters with batons as they moved in to clear the square.

Students barricade high school

Earlier on Thursday, students barricaded Helene Boucher High School in northeastern Paris with trash bins before police broke up the protest with tear gas.

As students gathered at the school, riot police assembled in the side streets. Many protesters wore surgical masks or hoodies, apparently to avoid identification.

The school has been a flashpoint for clashes in the French capital and was one of hundreds of schools disrupted by protests on Thursday.

Although the rallies have largely been peaceful, some demonstrators have set fires and vandalized bus shelters.

In response, the police have used tear gas, batons, and blast balls. Human rights groups and children accuse officers of using excessive force.

Following an incident in which a teenager's hand was blown off, the government suspended the use of stun grenades for crowd control on Wednesday.

Since late September, when students, most of whom are under 18, began protesting to demand more education funding, police have made more than 6,600 arrests, according to the Interior Ministry.

France students demand better schools

Government promises response

On Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu promised that the government would present "concrete, quick, and fully funded responses" to the protests by the end of October.

Nevertheless, student protest leaders said this was not good enough and called for more marches.

In a televised address, Lecornu also lamented the "violence, students and staff being attacked, police officers and gendarmes injured, schools set on fire or vandalized, thousands of hours of classes lost, not to mention threats and insults."

Edited by: Sean Sinico

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