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French student protests over education cuts

High school students across France have staged widespread protests, setting fires and blockading school entrances against proposed education cuts. Clashes with police have resulted in hundreds of arrests and detentions nationwide. The French government has warned against further escalation as student groups coordinate demonstrations with broader public sector strikes.

WorldVerified

France faces widespread walkouts and marches over living costs and budget cuts

SUMMARY

Hospital workers, air traffic and rail staff expected to join strikes amid renewed protests over education and rising living costs Hundreds of thousands are expected to march in demonstrations across France as trade unions call for a nationwide strike expected to extend to hospital workers, air traffic control, the post office, teachers and rail staff. President Emmanuel Macron’s final months in office continue to be marred by domestic crises, as high school students protesting over poor teaching conditions have been joined by workers in weekly protests over the cost of living. Meanwhile, the government is struggling to pass a belt-tightening budget in a divided parliament as public debt approaches 120% of economic output. Continue reading...

Finance· Developing

France 10-year bond yields surpass 5% as political deadlock deepens

Yield on 10-year government bonds passes 5% amid failure to pass budget and fallout from violent street protests Business live – latest updates France’s borrowing costs have climbed above 5% for the first time in 24 years as political concerns and the government’s failure to agree a much-delayed budget spook the financial markets. With some civic buildings still smouldering from recent riots, a fresh bout of selling pushed up the yield – or interest rate – on bonds issued by the second largest economy in the eurozone. Continue reading...

World· Verified

‘We’re not asking for luxury’: school protesters in Paris suburb feel abandoned by French state

Students say they are desperate to get back to class but conditions are so bad that the protests must continue On a normal school day, Mohammed, 17, wakes at 6am, cares for his younger siblings to help his single mother who works as a security guard, then takes two crowded buses and a local train to get to his high school in Sevran, a low-income banlieue town in the suburbs north-east of Paris. “There aren’t enough chairs or desks to go round, so some students have to stand up,” Mohammed said. “Classes can be so packed you can’t interact with the teacher. In this year’s heatwaves, it felt like 40 degrees in overcrowded classrooms with no shade or curtains. It was so hot my brain couldn’t function.” Continue reading...

World· Verified

Thursday briefing: Why young people are taking to the streets across France

In today’s newsletter: A youth-led movement is protesting crumbling school buildings and teacher shortages while turning adult focus onto wider educational inequalities Good morning. In my experience, at any protest, the most memorable and encapsulating slogans are always the ones written by hand with marker pen on cardboard placards. “School is a right, not a privilege,” read one such sign held aloft by a student in Paris, where huge youth protests over the state of high school education have brought tens of thousands of young people and adults on to the streets, with further strikes planned today. UK politics | Kemi Badenoch has announced that the Conservatives would abolish inheritance tax on family homes if elected, prompting criticism that she is prioritising cutting taxes for the rich. Education | Labour’s flagship changes to special education in England are at risk of unravelling because parents are rushing to secure support for their children before the system changes, new analysis has found. Spain | María del Carmen Abascal, the 87-year-old whose eviction set off a nationwide wave of protests against Spain’s housing crisis, has died. Science | A type of gene therapy based on Nobel prize-winning science is safe and can partly restore sight in blind people, researchers have revealed. Epstein | British billionaire Sir James Goldsmith warned that Jeffrey Epstein was a “sexual deviant” decades before the FBI closed in on the abuser, a Guardian investigation has found. Continue reading...

World· Developing

French police suspend use of stun grenades after high-school protester loses hand

Minister says use of grenades has been stopped ‘until we know what happened’ as protests across France continue How dilapidated are French schools and how bad is inequality in the education system? Europe live – latest updates France is suspending the use of stun grenades by police at high-school demonstrations, the interior minister has said, amid mounting accusations of police brutality during a fortnight of protests marred by often violent clashes that have injured hundreds. Laurent Nuñez told RTL radio on Wednesday that he had ordered a temporary halt to the use of the grenades “in the context of the high-school students’ movement” after a 15-year-old lost a hand during a protest in Lens, northern Fance, on Monday. Continue reading...

World· Verified

400 French schools closed on Friday as protests escalate into ‘urban violence’ – Europe live

Dozens of schools have been damaged and nearly 3,000 teenagers have been detained since the start of the tensions Some 100 schools have been severely damaged during French high school protests that escalated this week into “urban violence,” with 40 headteachers injured, according to the latest figures from the French education ministry. The pupils’ grievances range from overloaded timetables and overcrowded classes to insufficient teachers and unbearable temperatures during heatwaves earlier this year. Riot police have been deployed to confront the increasingly violent protests. Continue reading...

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