Student blockades: 1,949 arrests and deliberate fires in France
Urban violence marked the student blockade movement at French schools on 1 October. 564 establishments disrupted, buildings set alight in Bordeaux and Montpellier, 300 police officers and firefighters injured.
Major unrest during French school blockades
According to franceinfo.fr, the blockade movement at French schools descended into widespread urban violence on Thursday, 1 October. The Interior Ministry announced 1,949 arrests, three times more than the previous day, whilst 564 establishments out of 3,700 were disrupted. Unrest took place simultaneously in several cities: Bordeaux, Marseille, Rouen, Clamart, Montpellier and Nantes.
In Bordeaux, a school building's façade was deliberately set alight by masked individuals. Minutes later, firefighters arrived whilst police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators. A mother who came to collect her son described scenes of confusion: "I work in the building next door and my son is in this school, so I came to check that he isn't in danger."
State symbols were particularly targeted. In Marseille, police officers, outnumbered, were forced to retreat, abandoning a naval firefighter vehicle ransacked by the crowd. In Rouen, a headmaster was wounded by a mortar round. Again, a deliberate fire was started in the establishment. In total on Thursday, nearly 300 firefighters, gendarmes and police officers were injured during the incidents.
When questioned by France Télévisions teams, young minors acknowledged starting fires: "We put the bins there, then we burned them. It spread very quickly. We started barricading the streets. And after that, we saw it was getting out of hand. There were cars burning. After that, we're not proud of it, unfortunately."
In Clamart, fireworks clashed with tear gas. Several students were injured or arrested. The young people denounce the shortage of teachers, overcrowded classes and criticise the attitude of the forces of order. One student regretted the escalation: "The police, it amuses them. They want us to be gassed. The young people respond by throwing fireworks at them. But we want it to stop, we want things to calm down, we want to talk to them, they don't want to talk."
In Montpellier, damage was particularly extensive. A school building's reception lodge melted under the heat. Didier Terral, head of the Occitanie region's property programmes service, stated that "the lodge is completely destroyed. The fire control system was completely destroyed. We are currently assessing the damage. It will be very significant, that's for sure."
Under French law, those responsible for deliberate fires face ten years' imprisonment. In cases of violence against the forces of order, the sentence can reach an additional three to seven years' imprisonment.
Source: TF1 Info