PARIS — French student and school-pupil unions have called for blockades of high schools and universities on Tuesday, November 3 and Thursday, November 5, as police brace for renewed tension when schools reopen on Monday after the autumn break. The Union étudiante, a national student union, issued the call on Saturday, Belgian newspapers La Libre Belgique and L'Avenir and broadcaster RTBF reported, and its spokesperson also spoke for the Union syndicale lycéenne (USL), the school pupils' union.

Source: La Libre Belgique / RTBF / L'Avenir, Nov 1

The November 5 action falls on the day of a national interprofessional strike called by workers' unions, who have also called a march that day, the Belgian reports said. The USL's president said the pupils' union would back blockades organised from Monday, November 2, and urged students to hold general assemblies on Monday to plan blockades running from Tuesday to Friday. The leader of the Lycéens! organisation went further on Sunday, telling RMC radio that high schools would be blocked from Monday, with the action really picking up from Tuesday.

Source: La Libre Belgique / RTBF / L'Avenir, Nov 1

A quieter Saturday — but police are not standing down

French authorities expressed relief on Sunday after Saturday's mass protests over rising living costs produced less violence than previous weekends, the Associated Press reported. In Paris, rioters targeted police with Molotov cocktails at the end of Saturday's march on the city's eastern edge, injuring three officers and setting a car ablaze, police said. A national police official said on Sunday that authorities had prepared for a larger turnout of both peaceful marchers and troublemakers, and that police are preparing for more tension as schools reopen on Monday, with student groups and unions calling new nationwide protests on Tuesday and Thursday.

Source: Associated Press via AAP News, Nov 1

President Emmanuel Macron's government is focusing on Thursday's actions — a general strike on trains and public services alongside the student and union protests — and is negotiating with the unions, an official close to the president told AP. The official described Saturday's protests as “a return to republican order” but acknowledged the situation is “not perfect”.

Source: Associated Press via AAP News, Nov 1

What the students are asking for

High school students set this movement in motion about six weeks ago, protesting teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms, deteriorating school buildings and the university admissions system, before it widened into a broader revolt over the cost of living that has drawn in trade unions. The USL's president said pupils were not asking for luxury — not MacBooks in every classroom or gourmet restaurants — but for functioning schools. Last week the education and higher education ministers announced measures including gradually replacing the Parcoursup admissions platform by 2028 and reducing class sizes, limited to seconde classes; on Thursday, Macron called for classes to resume calmly, saying young people had been heard.

The Lycéens! leader rejected that response as insufficient, saying the class-size reduction should apply to all classes and that replacing Parcoursup does not address the shortage of places in higher education. He set no end date for the movement, saying it depends on the government's response, and defended continuing despite the risk of school delays for mobilised pupils, calling it a sacrifice made for future generations.

The blockade call follows Saturday's marches, the third consecutive weekend of nationwide protests over living costs, which this site reported as they happened. Read: 320,000 march in France for a third weekend as youth-led protests spread