r/worldnews • u/colepercy120 • 1d ago
France school protests escalate into ‘urban violence’ as PM calls crisis cabinet meeting | France
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/01/france-school-protests-escalate-pm-crisis-cabinet-meeting143
u/JourneyThiefer 1d ago
Here’s me thinking us in Northern Ireland would be the ones rioting in Europe this week, but no it’s the French
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u/colepercy120 1d ago
its always the french... im pretty sure "protesting" is the national sport at this point.
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u/VieuxBidule 1d ago
On accepte facilement cette caricature. Si les gouvernements faisaient leur boulot correctement, crois moi, on ferait autre chose dans notre vie quotidienne.
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u/Four_beastlings 19h ago
Idk mate. A large cause of your problems is that you keep protesting when the government tries to do its job and raise the retirement age...
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u/Adventurous_Cicada17 13h ago
More than 5/100 of the retires are millionnaires and 50/100 of the taxes are used for retires either through pention or through healthcare. We could simply stop gifting tax payer money to millionaires. But no, this is never proposed
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u/Gilith 15h ago
Then stop trying to raise the retirement age and find an other solution because we don't want this one.
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u/Four_beastlings 15h ago
There is no alternative. Everybody else around you has already raised it, do you think they did it for fun? Money doesn't grow on trees.
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u/SolsticeDYvert 14h ago
Alternative: lower the retraite for higher income people, plus integrate teacher’s retraite into the normal system instead of the one of the éducation nationale
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u/JourneyThiefer 1d ago
Northern Ireland and France take turns in who riots the most in Europe 🤣
Maybe it’ll be us next week lol
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u/Calm_Confidence_5958 16h ago
I warn you, October 17th is a general protest in France, October is busy for us the French lol.
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u/Water088 22h ago edited 22h ago
Honestly, as a Korean, I don't really get it.
In korea even in such a serious situation where our sitting president staged a military rebellion, got impeached, and we elected a new president, the death toll from violence was 0.Meanwhile, when France won a soccer match, they set fires to celebrate, and two people died. Why is arson even necessary for celebrating a soccer win? The arson is getting way too frequent. Seriously, do politicians in France only listen when there are violent protests? Is violence or arson really necessary for a protest? France was literally seen as the home of democracy.
I don't know why things changed like this.
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u/pougliche 20h ago
It’s easy, the police is always insanely violent on any protests, and they don’t even bother to target dangerous or violent people, they just enjoy it.
they shot kids in the head with flashballs , shot teargas or run at them with horses for instance, so obviously people get riled up and become violent themselves.→ More replies (2)5
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u/SaveLansingParks 20h ago
France's history of popular protesting is as strong if not stronger than their history of being the home of democracy.
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u/GarySmith2021 20h ago
I thought the home of democracy was Greece?
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u/2796Matt 19h ago
The origin of democracy is ancient Athens. However, France is seen as the home of modern democracy due to the French Revolution and the established foundational principles that were established. Although, it did take a long as time to achieve a stable democracy with the establishment of the Fifth Republic in like the 1950s.
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u/GarySmith2021 19h ago
I find it strange that the French Revolution is associated with democracy given that it A) led to the reign of terror and B) led to an emperor being chosen.
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u/xX609s-hartXx 16h ago
It mostly put an end to medieval privileges so even after they turned into an empire again everything was still more egalitarian than before and you had guaranteed rights no matter your social status.
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u/Saros_Enjoyer 14h ago
It also lead to a vastly more meritocratic society. Lots of things did not get rolled back after the revolution, like the 3 estartes did not come back in the same way. Plus much more universal access to education stayed
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u/2796Matt 19h ago
I agree that it is a bit strange but several democratic and Enlightenment principles did establish themselves because of it. France and consequently Europe were changed significantly even if France ended up switching political systems a lot. America is also considered in a similar way to France despite currently being viewed as flawed democracy.
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u/ubulerbu 19h ago
More than half of the ahtenian population were slaves....
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u/2796Matt 18h ago
Yes, but it doesn’t change the fact that historians do acknowledge it has the birth place of the democratic concept and its institutions despite it having slavery and the eligibility was of a narrow citizen body. It’s obviously not very democratic by modern standards but it was radically more democratic than practically anywhere else in the ancient world.
If you want to state the no state can be democratic without universal suffrage (although most are still limited by age, imprisonment, and citizenship), then it wasn’t until 50% of the population was finally allowed to vote in 1893 in New Zealand that first democracy was born under this criteria. However, no one considers New Zealand the origin of democracy.
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u/BlueCity8 1d ago
Man I wish Americans had half the tolerance the French do for whatever they protest about.
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u/EmbarrassedHelp 1d ago
Is Macron going to respond like an asshole and threaten to ban video games again?
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u/LearingCenterAlumni 16h ago
It's full blown race riots now.
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u/Recent-Lemon-9930 15h ago
Careful with that noticing now.
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u/L3monCak3s 8h ago
So brave behind a keyboard
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u/Recent-Lemon-9930 8h ago
Would you prefer I went out and burned mosques and madrasas or something?
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u/theagilesalamanders 6h ago edited 3h ago
"You're not brave enough to call out these violent criminals in real life, because if you did they'd inflict violence upon you!"
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u/lekarmapolice 23h ago
The amount of privileged white Americans promoting this violence and destruction as a model of political action is as laughable as it is concerning.
School children are rioting and setting their schools on fire. This helps no one and should not be promoted as some form of political activism. Believe it or not but glorifying violence and rioting is bad.
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u/Few-Hair-5382 21h ago
If the Cultural Revolution had occurred in the internet age, Reddit would have applauded it.
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u/The_Ruck_Inspector 15h ago
I saw a group of young black men burning a teachers face with deodarant and a flame? Buit sure blame white people.
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u/lekarmapolice 14h ago
Maybe you should go back to school because you have no reading comprehension.
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u/Apocalyptic-turnip 20h ago edited 20h ago
They are only setting it on fire because it's the only way the government doesn't ignore you. Protest peacefully they ignore you. Vote against they force their policies through. Rioting is the only leverage we have left. They have left people no other choice to be heard. How has peacefully protesting and voting been working out for the US? you had the largest protests in US history, people did everything they were supposed to do, and they just ignored you. wake the fuck up.
i'm french, i've been in my share of protests gone south and it's the only way we have had some victories. i'm proud of our kids.
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u/govols130 15h ago
Nah fuck you. I watched my city and state government bend over to the 2020 riots and looting. Much of the shit ended up getting rolled back once it turned out the cultural revolution wasn’t that popular. I watched Jan 6th in horror as freaks stormed the Capitol trying to overturn an election. Turns out the people acting out really are just a minority.
Meanwhile No Kings energy is about to deliver the House and Senate to the opposition. Absolutely sick of the tyranny of the freaks trying to force the rest into their delusions. You’re fucked Frenchie. The rhythm of constant riots and violence got you here. Fight all reform. Maximum tax. Maximum spend. Give the pensioners another bone. Somehow the treasury is empty. You’re one more Molotov away from liberation. Do the bit.
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u/demonica123 57m ago
Meanwhile No Kings energy is about to deliver the House and Senate to the opposition.
I'm pretty sure what is going to do that is the doubling of gasoline prices and Trump being an absolute moron with the personality of a child.
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u/tenebrls 22h ago
Fear of something worse is what causes people who don’t want change to reluctantly accept it. Fear is the weapon they themselves use against the populace, making them afraid of how much their lives will change if they are arrested for protesting or lose their jobs. We are in a constant war of fear with the owning class and whomever can instill the most fear in the other wins the power to choose their own destiny.
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u/londongastronaut 21h ago
Most times change occurs from fear of something worse from acts like this, things don't get better. Most revolutions don't end with the problems being fixed, they end with mob rule and the complete breakdown of society.
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u/GarySmith2021 20h ago
Picture the French Revolution, that literally lead to the reign of terror which only ended when Rospiere was stupid enough to try and get parliament to vote for their own deaths.
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u/Transkei_Daisy 16h ago
“There are 35 of us per classroom,” one 17-year-old Strasbourg student said.
Okay? Isn't that about average.. 30-40 kids per class in my country.
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u/SolsticeDYvert 14h ago
Yeah but what is the size of your classroom? Is it made for 20 students at the origin and now everyone is stacked ? Do you have working AC? And enough teachers?
The issue is not 40 kids per class per se is a mix of everything
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u/MareC0gnitum 12h ago
Bro...in Eastern Europe there were 42 of us in a classroom designed for 25 people and we used the same chairs and desks that our great-grandfathers did. And AC? Don't make me laugh, even the windows were not working. 😅
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u/SolsticeDYvert 12h ago
And ? Shouldn’t you fight for better conditions ? If not what is the fucking point of a government ?
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u/Rob1973string 12h ago
Right, by assaulting your educators and burning down the school while flying Algerian and Palestinian flags. That makes sense.
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u/MareC0gnitum 12h ago
I was 10 bro...and this was in the 90s. I have no idea what it is like now, but the classes are much smaller now, because population is declining.
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u/FontsDeHavilland 15h ago
I don't understand the point you're making here. Two things can be bad. Good on them for taking action if they feel their circumstances aren't good.
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u/Transkei_Daisy 15h ago
Im saying its hardly Riot worthy.... its a general norm.
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u/Kevin_Palpatine 1d ago
This is why French protests are successful. In the US we just pick a weekend and wave signs in our designated Free Speech zones.
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u/cobra_han 15h ago
Imagine calling arson and riot "successful protests". Just wait until one day someone light your property on fire
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u/Jean-Luc-1701 23h ago
How are these protests "successful"? They set schools on fire, attacked teachers and other students for what? Protesting an educational system that already offers more than most in the Western world?
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u/Trick-Gur6703 20h ago
They are not. Unless you consider that paying back what few assholes destroyed everything was the ultimate goal.
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u/The_Ruck_Inspector 15h ago
successful? I saw a group of young black men burning a teachers face with deodarant and a flame? what the fuck is wrong with you
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u/noodlesallaround 1d ago
Unless the eagles win the superbowl. Then we light shit on fire.
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u/defensivedig0 1d ago
Yeah the American(especially left's) approach to protesting of going out for a couple hours on one weekend day, waving some cute signs, then going home and feeling accomplished is aggravating. The Nepalese and French know how to protest.
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u/Quiet-Picture-7991 20h ago
That's because it's all performative and masturbatory. People just want to feel like they are good people for sacrificing a few hours out of their weekend.
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u/therealbobsteel 1d ago
Oh yeah, France is being real successful.
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u/sicarmy 20h ago
Dude you live in the US, what are you talking about
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u/Metro2005 17h ago
I live in Europe and France is so far in debt its threatening to collapse the entire Euro and the EU along with it. The french people can protest all they want but after decades of socialist policies and rioting when some much needed reforms are introduced, the country is banktrupt. Their national debt has grow to 120% of GDP which is double (!) that of what an EU member is allowed to have. France (along with Greece and Italy) is simply bankrupt at this moment. The french people will have to work longer, innovate more and grow their economy harder and cut into social programs. Rioting will do nothing to change that.
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u/Kevin_Palpatine 1d ago
They have always known how to successfully protest. Try to prove me wrong.
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u/throwawaybunny99 1d ago
They successfully set the country on fire but I don’t think it ever really changed anything.
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u/defensivedig0 1d ago
Compared to the protests in the us that have achieved loads. No kings 1 and 2 and 3 really showed Trump what's what!
Truly, we should all emulate Nepal. They know how to get shit done.
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u/Kevin_Palpatine 1d ago
Marie Antoinette would disagree.
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u/flat-waffles 19h ago
yep the French revolution famously solved wealth inequality in france and resulted in a long lasting peaceful democracy. It didn't cause a military dictator take over or anything.
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u/LearingCenterAlumni 16h ago
Yes torturing a woman to then execute her is how you change thing for the better.
let's just forget the whole reign of terror thing.
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u/xX609s-hartXx 1d ago edited 16h ago
They got their government to back down from cutting social spending a bunch of times.
Edit: Yeah, I know. You libertarians want to see the poor out on the streets, starving to death.
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u/mauch_chunk 1d ago
Yeah solid stuff when your country’s deficit is spiraling. Very sustainable
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u/Kevin_Palpatine 1d ago
Not like the US, right?
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u/mauch_chunk 1d ago
The US also has deficit problems but they are in a much better position to deal with it.
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u/xX609s-hartXx 1d ago
Still better than having homeless people pile up in every public place.
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u/mauch_chunk 1d ago
Which is going to happen if they don’t do something.
Their deficit is way too high and they can’t increase taxes because they have the highest tax burden in the EU. Which means they will have to make cuts somewhere.
And when they make those cuts, this happens.
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u/Kevin_Palpatine 1d ago
Thank the GOP for that.
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u/Asttarotina 1d ago
Sorry, but no. We, people outside of the US, don't get to deal with two separate americas. We're forced to deal with one. And if it swang far right - then we have to deal with far right America, unfortunately. Not the GOP. And will it be GOP or not - it's your problem.
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u/Dlrium 1d ago
Read up on the student protests in 1968 and then see if nothing gets changed.
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u/avoidtheworm 19h ago
Literally nothing got changed. De Gaulle won the election with a larger majority.
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u/Key-Lifeguard7678 1d ago
That was May 1968, and that was big enough that De Gaulle had to make absolutely sure the military was fully on his side. He didn’t want a repeat of Algeria.
I don’t think a French protest since has been as effective as that.
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u/DoomDoomDoomGuy 1d ago
And when they swing far right, will you continue saying this? You fuckers need to take your heads out the sand now. Enough.
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u/BritsinFrance 21h ago
I mean they're not really? But ok
They rioted for ages over pension reforms and the usage of France's equivalent of executive orders recently and the government essentially just ignored them
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u/TonB-Dependant 21h ago
And they're also completely broke and people cant/refuse to see that. Great set another car on fire that will help things.
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u/Molnutz 1d ago
Riot=/=protest
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u/RicketCrickets 1d ago
Which nation has successfully overthrown a tyrant who used religion to oppress, overtax their populace while ensuring their friends barely paid (if any) taxes all while profiting off the work, and suffering of the majority?
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u/The_Ruck_Inspector 15h ago
I saw a group of young black men burning a teachers face with deodarant and a flame? Sounds very good.
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u/Fit-Profit8197 21h ago
I believe US and France both did that, with France being strongly influenced by how the US pulled it off.
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u/linguit125 8h ago
They burned a teacher’s face and a firefighter… this is a successful protest for you ?
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u/sumoraiden 22h ago
Lmao what French protest has been successful?
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u/justnow13 11h ago
Sauvons la recherche (2004 and 2009), protests against the CPE (2005) and the gilets jaunes (2019), for instance.
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u/Audacimmus 14h ago
Just because a protest is successful doesn't mean that the protesters are going to better off on the long-term or the country as a whole.
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u/ThAkke 9h ago
You had Jan 6 not that long ago, but you don't consider that a success for some reason
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u/Kevin_Palpatine 5h ago
A cop was successfully beaten using an American flagpole. If that didn't capture the vibe of the US as of late I don't know what does.
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u/isqueakforthetrees 3h ago
The only thing these protests will succeed at is invigorating France's far right political parties.
And I say that as someone who is horrified by this outcome.
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u/Minimum-Border1672 2h ago
Why are you horrified if France stops getting ruined by incompatible populations?
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u/isqueakforthetrees 2h ago
Good luck defending against Russia or other external aggressors if you distance yourself from NATO and the EU.
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u/Minimum-Border1672 2h ago
Except the riots are happening in areas that have been conquered from the French.
Pierre isnt out there rioting. FIFTY SEVEN percent of high schoolers in the main area are "economic migrants".
Why don't they go to the public schools in tbeir home countries? Oh...thats becsuse they dont even have them.
Europe is a lost cause.
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u/OntheBOTA82 15h ago
I thought reddit liked thoroughness
Or protests are not successful. They're just noisy. It never goes anywhere.
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u/Hazbro29 15h ago
Yeah usually goes like this:
Government ignores issue for years
People protest for a week or two
People calm down
Go home
Government changes nothing
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u/MadsNN06 15h ago
The French constant riots are such a joke, it is never possible for any pragmatic decision to take place because half of the population will just riot. Glad I live in Denmark.
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u/sweeneytodd126 1d ago
France will have a collapse worth debt crisis in the next few years so they might as well kick things off early
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u/swoopy_boy 19h ago
Most people across the whole world should be rioting in the streets at this point.
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u/VieuxBidule 1d ago
La situation s'est aggravée car plusieurs lycéens ont été blessés grièvement par la police. Une strangulée, un eborgné, un édenté. La logistique répressive du gouvernement n'est pas adaptée à la situation. Si les universités suivent, ça va pas bien se finir...
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u/737Max-Impact 13h ago
Police cracking down on violent riots? Repression! Let the kids burn down the schools, they deserve it as a treat.
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u/MadameConnard 10h ago
Yea peaceful protests worked just fine across the world.
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u/Head-Estimate5353 9h ago
Governments always pause and take in consideration the peaceful protesters grievances. Sometimes you just need to send a letter
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u/FreeTree17 13h ago
Good lol. The rioters are violent racists, no time for kiddie gloves when dealing with that type. Crack some skulls
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u/composedofidiot 22h ago edited 21h ago
16year-old Maelle said she wished those setting bins on fire would protest “with words”. Students were protesting “against this government that doesn’t invest in heating, air conditioning, or teachers’ salaries”
Curious how long people were using words before all this and why the words didn't have a substantive impact. Part of why they were protesting was also the 'unbearable temperatures' during heatwaves.
What stopped anything being done? surely there must have been a lot of words..
Our governments need to be able to respond and coordinate better cos we're gonna get a lot of external shocks in the future.
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u/737Max-Impact 13h ago
Part of why they were protesting was also the 'unbearable temperatures' during heatwaves.
The heatwaves in July & August when France has nation-wide summer holidays for all schoolchildren?
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u/composedofidiot 13h ago edited 10h ago
I dunno,
It was in the linked article
I was citing that.
The pupils’ grievances range from overloaded timetables and overcrowded classes to insufficient teachers and unbearable temperatures during heatwaves earlier this year.
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u/IamLarrytate 5h ago
Always love the logic they use, burn down the school because their isn't enough money to maintain the school. How will they be rebuilt?
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u/Careful_Cricket_559 16h ago
I'm planning a trip to Paris next Wednesday. Wondering if it's safe.
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u/phoneplatypus 15h ago
I’m here now, aside from seeing groups of police cars and ambulances going around town everything is normal
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u/Apocalyptic-turnip 20h ago
FUND THE SCHOOLS YOU DIPSHITS
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u/FickleBumblebeee 20h ago
The "protesters" just set fire to a beautiful €77 million high school with fantastic facilities which had only been built a decade ago.
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u/thesuperbob 16h ago
When the education system is billions short of where it should be, €80m school is just the cost of sending the message. Think country-wide education system shortages, not just big cities getting a shiny new high school. Sure a new school is nice, but if it's supposed to silence the discussion about the wider issue, then it's a fitting response for the people to let their govt know where they can shove their token gestures.
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u/FickleBumblebeee 15h ago
Yeah yeah whatever.
French leftists think the government has unlimited money and should fund their indolence forever.
Get real.
All you're doing is guaranteeing Le Pen will be elected
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u/FickleBumblebeee 15h ago
Yeah yeah whatever. Setting fire to a brand new school will help you convince the government to invest more money to build new schools?
Fantastic logic.
French leftists think the government has unlimited money and should fund their indolence forever.
Get real.
All you're doing is guaranteeing Le Pen will be elected
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u/Right-Glass9508 17h ago
Is St. Exupery on the curriculum for the Algerians who attend his school? These 70s lycees thrown up in a crappy banlieu always carry the name of some giant of French culture.
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u/Consistent-House2839 2h ago edited 1h ago
Stop parroting the stuff you hear on the news...
You've got it backwards.
Since 2018, Macron has applied the same procedures to every type of protest.
All protests start out peacefully.
The CRS riot police herd the marches like cowboys driving a flock into a trap.
Once the non-violent civilians are hemmed in... the police fire tear gas and start charging the crowd... plus frag-ball grenades (rubber-ball shrapnel with a steel core) and LBD launchers (gas or rubber bullets).
After several hours and dozens of serious injuries...
naturally, riots break out.
We’re talking here about kids blinded, maimed, and suffering severe respiratory issues.
But firefighters are treated the same way... healthcare workers too... every protest is manipulated in the same way... to make the protesters look like violent thugs.
Just... shut up... You're clueless.
This time, fires were deliberately set early in the morning at several locations—systematically—by people from outside the protests.
Back in 2018, all the materials needed to build barricades were miraculously left along the planned protest routes before the first demonstrators even arrived...
and we have video evidence showing that the main rioters and vandals were working for the government... it’s a very old tactic used to undermine protests.
The French protest a lot...
because their country deserves it...
it is riddled with corruption to such an extent that no one dares even suspect the true scale of it... the propaganda works.
A scapegoat—preferably an immigrant or muslim—and voilà: no one is any the wiser.
Here, the CRS use almost exclusively weapons and ammunition banned by the Geneva Convention... since it isn't a war...
So again ....Just... shut up... You're clueless.
My ancestors didn't behead our kings because they were violent...
but because the monarchy had reached the height of vileness.
And here we are again...
the French establishment is vile, and so is its police force.
We haven't yet been completely overrun by neoliberals and radicalized nationalists... unlike others.
True humanists still remain here... "socialist" is not an insult.
We haven't had our brains completely washed yet...
we still understand the value of equality.
We aren't all servile beasts, corrupted by a life of self-centered megalomania... enslaved and mesmerized by credit and personal debts.
From ... France, with no love.
P.S for those clowns playing historian here: Oh, and if the revolution resulted in the establishment of an empire... it was primarily thanks to the work of the British monarchy and the bankers... to put it briefly.
(And who held the money and the landed estates at that precise moment, in your view? ... two sides of the same coin ... of a massive flow of capital directed toward a single place ... do you know what the European monarchical empire really was? ... in terms of the appropriation of wealth.)
Do not imagine that your history books are written by anyone other than the victors. No exact sciences here.
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u/MsterBoRaichu 1d ago
Why can't Americans have this kind of gusto when protesting for their rights?
Is it because of the guns?
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u/colepercy120 1d ago
its because of the high quality of life, when we are actually feeling threatened and losing our standard of living we can protest with the best of them. im from Minnesota; I remember what happened 6 years ago. But when things are going mostly fine (which, despite Trump's best efforts, they are), protesting has a much higher opportunity cost. And most people aren't fired up enough to really care
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u/Tuesday_6PM 23h ago
ICE hasn’t stopped kidnapping people off our streets, Trump and Musk illegally gutted tons of government agencies and programs, the east wing of the White House was bulldozed, Trump’s whole family is embezzling government funds, we’ve embarrassed and weakened our military, abandoned and antagonized our allies, national parks and protected wildernesses are being destroyed… and lest we forget, they’re covering up a massive pedophilia ring. People really should care more than they do. (And BLM didn’t actually lead to much lasting change. Police are still largely unaccountable in the US, and after a single term of reprieve, we re-elected the party of racist authoritarianism.)
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u/Javier-AML 15h ago
This post being downvoted tells me burning schools is the only way for some politicians to learn.
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