Students and school pupils demonstrated in cities across France on Tuesday 13 October, in what organisers described as a fifth day of nationwide action. The youth intersyndicale, which brings together student and lycée organisations, said around 480,000 people took part in the marches, according to franceinfo. The Interior Ministry put the figure at 161,500 demonstrators nationwide, including 41,500 in Paris, the outlet reported.
The two sets of numbers, released as the day wore on, differ by a factor of roughly three — a familiar gap in French protest counting, where unions and the government routinely publish rival estimates.
Why it matters
The marches came shortly before the Toussaint school holidays and form part of a movement that began in mid-September. franceinfo reported that more than 200 lycéens have been injured since the contestation started, along with more than 800 police officers and gendarmes. The Justice Ministry's judicial tally, provided the previous Friday, counted more than 6,800 people taken into custody, 86% of them minors.
Separately, franceinfo reported that 36 investigations have been opened by the IGPN, the body that inspects the police, since the lycée movement began.
Two processions in Paris, and tension near the Invalides
In the capital, franceinfo reported that one procession set off from the Place d'Italie in the early afternoon behind a banner calling for the right to study and denouncing what it described as social and racist selection. A second, smaller march ran at the same time between the Hôtel de Ville and Place de Port-Royal.
The Paris column was called by the main trade unions and youth organisations, according to the outlet. It headed towards the Invalides, close to the offices of the prime minister and the education ministry.
Later, franceinfo reported that the situation grew tense at Place Vauban, opposite the Invalides, between some demonstrators and police. Officers fired tear gas, and water cannon were also deployed, the outlet said.
Gatherings were also under way in other large cities, among them Marseille, Brest, Nantes and Lyon, franceinfo reported.
A policeman charged over Tours injury
Also on Tuesday, a police officer was placed under formal investigation for "aggravated violence" and put under judicial supervision after a lycéen lost an eye in late September during demonstrations in Tours, the local prosecutor's office announced, according to franceinfo.
The officer has also been barred from carrying or owning an LBD, the less-lethal launcher used by French police, the outlet reported. A second officer was placed under the status of assisted witness, the prosecutor in Tours said in a statement cited by franceinfo.
The family of Maël, 16, had filed a complaint some days after learning that the teenager had lost the use of his right eye, according to the outlet. A video of a young man sitting with his head bloodied had been widely shared on social media.
What to watch
Organisers have called another demonstration for Saturday, at the start of the school holidays, with one appeal urging participants to join forces with the gilets jaunes, according to reporting cited by franceinfo and Libération.
