France’s students rise up in biggest movement since May 1968

Historic scale of protests

Hundreds of thousands of pupils, teachers and parents have taken to the streets across France in recent weeks, in what organisers describe as an exceptional movement over the state of the education system. Government sources put the number of protesters on Tuesday at 266,000, but unions and student leaders say the scale is historic. Alice Cohen-Morzadec, international spokesperson for France’s Student Union, said on Tuesday: “I think this is very historic and unprecedented by how big it is.” She added that some are comparing it to the largest movement since May 1968, when university protests nearly five decades ago spread beyond campuses and led to nationwide strikes that virtually paralysed the country.

The current wave began on September 21 at an underdeveloped high school in the Paris suburbs. What started as local anger over education funding, teacher shortages, overcrowded classes and poor facilities has grown into a national uprising. But historians and organisers say those issues are only triggers, not the deeper causes.

A crisis of hope

Andrew Smith, a historian of modern France at Queen Mary University of London, sees something more profound at work. “For the young people, this is a crisis of hope,” he said. “You can see they are bombarded daily with economic problems, political extremes, dangers of warfare in Europe, the threat to their careers from AI, high youth unemployment rates, the climate crisis.” Smith also pointed to the lack of substantive dialogue between the government and student representatives in recent years, making it hard for the state to meet interlocutors and engage with social partners.

Robi Morder, a researcher on social movements in France, contrasts today’s situation with 1990 and 1998, when socialist or leftist governments included ministers who had themselves been in youth movements. In 1990, the president even received a student delegation. Now, he says, the government not only comes from the other side politically but also lacks the experience of the old political class. Its first answer, Morder argues, is to dismiss the conflict and call the police. Student organisers feel they are not being taken seriously. Chloe Grunenwald, vice president of the Federation of the General Association of Students (FAGE), which represents some 300,000 students, put it bluntly: “This is too much. Enough is enough. We have been making these demands for years.”

Demands and next steps

FAGE and other student unions have published a list of 10 demands that would cost the government an estimated 1 billion euros. They include greater investment in schools and universities, more staff and space in higher education, stronger financial and housing support, affordable university meals, an end to higher fees for international students, and an end to what they call “all forms of repression linked to the high school and student movement.” The unions have promised to keep up pressure until all requirements are met.

Protest organisers have also complained about police brutality, saying the real violence comes from the government side, even as media focus on burnt bins and blocked schools. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Wednesday that “students must be heard,” and Interior Minister Laurent Nunez ordered police to suspend the use of stun grenades against high school pupils. Cohen-Morzadec said the movement will mobilise until demands are met, with October 17 and November 20 set as international dates for youth across Europe to mobilise for the future. Nationwide strikes and antigovernment demonstrations are already scheduled for October 17, backed by the left-wing France Unbowed party and the main labour union CGT, amid grievances over soaring energy and food prices, proposed budget cuts and public sector salary freezes.