Philémon Jouglet-Marcus, the Paris federal representative of the Union syndicale lycéenne (USL), said on the evening of Friday 9 October that the lycée protest movement is not losing momentum, speaking on franceinfo. His remarks came after a government source told France Télévisions earlier that day that the mobilisation was showing a "clear deceleration," confirming reporting by AFP. The same source described the movement's momentum as now "very localised" in certain departments.
Why it matters
The disagreement over whether the movement is fading goes to the heart of how the standoff between French secondary school students and the executive is being read. If the government's assessment is correct, the protests that began in mid-September may be entering a quieter phase. If the USL's account is correct, the opposite is true, and further disruption lies ahead. The stakes are visible in the numbers: franceinfo reports that more than 200 lycéens have been injured since the unrest began in mid-September, along with more than 800 police officers and gendarmes. More than 6,800 people, 86% of them minors, have been placed in custody over the same period, according to the Justice Ministry's judicial tally.
Damage costs and police investigations
The government source cited by France Télévisions put the cost of damage caused alongside demonstrations and blockades at "at least 30 million euros." Separately, the Interior Ministry announced that the IGPN, the body that investigates the police, has opened 24 inquiries since the lycée movement began. France 2 spoke to Brigitte Jullien, the commissioner who led the IGPN during the "gilets jaunes" crisis, about how such investigations are conducted.
Two of the incidents under scrutiny involve injuries to teenagers. In Lens, in the Pas-de-Calais, a police grenade tore off the hand of a 15-year-old lycéen. The local prosecutor's office said the firing was carried out "in line with the recommended operating procedure." The boy's mother, who was heard by investigators on Thursday, has filed a complaint over the injuries her son suffered, according to a statement from Etienne Thieffry, the prosecutor of Béthune.
In Dunkirk, in the Nord department, a 14-year-old girl has filed a complaint after being struck by a police car on the margins of a lycée mobilisation on Monday, the prosecutor's office said. Prosecutors had already opened an investigation into "endangering others" after a video circulated showing a police vehicle "moving at high speed near several people on foot." The teenager says the police vehicle hit her as it reversed, without knocking her down. She was examined at Dunkirk hospital on Monday evening, where a "contusion without seriousness" to her hip was recorded, and left the hospital after the examination.
Student reactions and local tensions
franceinfo gathered reactions from lycéens to the government's latest announcements. While some saw positive elements, most students judged the measures to fall well short of what they wanted. One student, Nelly, in her first year of lycée, said she saw no reason to feel calmed, arguing that nothing in what was announced amounted to real change, and that the response only encouraged her and others to continue blockading and to do so more forcefully.
In Tours, around a dozen public and private lycées are closed or heavily disrupted. Parents and students there told France 3 Centre-Val de Loire that they understand the principle behind the mobilisation but criticise blockades they now consider excessive, pointing to the effect on schooling.
Policing and a Bordeaux arson inquiry
Patrice Faure, the Paris police prefect, told journalists there is "no particular instruction for restraint" in maintaining order at upcoming demonstrations. He said the concern is "black blocs" and troublemakers who disrupt otherwise peaceful marches, describing them as a few hundred people "who come to attack a bit of everything and everyone."
In Bordeaux, the prosecutor's office has widened an investigation opened on Thursday following a fire at a city-centre police station, adding counts of "attempted aggravated voluntary homicide" against the three officers who were present. The previous day's situation deteriorated after, according to the account, several dozen individuals with masked faces became involved.
What to watch next: whether turnout at lycée blockades holds through the coming week, and how the IGPN inquiries and the Béthune and Dunkirk cases proceed.
