In mid-September,
high school students in a struggling suburb north of Paris began speaking up about the conditions in their schools. Their classrooms were overcrowded. Teachers were absent, and often no one came to replace them. Some school buildings were falling apart.
What started as local frustration has grown into a nationwide movement. Students have blockaded hundreds of high schools, and in one day alone, more than 250,000 people marched in cities across France. Parents, teachers, university students, unions, and even grandparents have joined them. Their demands are simple. They want enough teachers, substitutes when teachers are out, a review of their long 8am-to-6pm school days, and buildings that are safe to learn in.
But instead of increased support and safety, they have been met with brutal state violence.Sign the petition demanding the French government protect students from police violence and finally give them the schools they're asking for.The cost of being heard has been
staggering. France's prime minister says
215 students and 85 school staff have been injured since the protests began. A 14-year-old near Paris had his
jaw shattered and most of his teeth knocked out by a police grenade. A 15-year-old in Lens
lost his hand when a grenade exploded. A 16-year-old in Tours
lost the use of his eye. More than 6,000 people have been arrested,
almost all of them minors.Most of these young people are marching peacefully, yet they're being met with tear gas, baton charges, and weapons that can blind and maim.
Amnesty International has urged French authorities to end what it calls disproportionate police repression.The prime minister has told his ministers to address the students' demands. So far, though, the only concrete offers have been a website for complaints and a single afternoon of discussion inside schools. That falls far short of what these students need.
The French government can change this. It can ban the use of grenades and blast-ball rounds against students at school protests, order a fully independent investigation into every child injured by police, and commit real funding to hire teachers and repair crumbling schools. Without these steps, more children will be hurt, and the classrooms they're fighting for will keep falling apart.
Sign the petition and tell the French government to protect its students and give them the schools they deserve!