Rioting at French student protest : Thunderbay IMC

At the end of a massive student protest (80,000 people) in Paris on February 15, 2005, hundreds of youths threw objects at riot police, smashed shop windows, trashed cars and looted goods. 24 people were arrested by police, and eight remain in custody. 30 police were wounded and eight were hospitalized. Student union protest marshals used batons to attack youths who were breaking windows and looting.

France has a history of violent student rebellions which have also involved striking workers and the unemployed.

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French pupils protest, increase pressure on govt

15 Feb 2005 18:13:42 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Paule Bonjean

PARIS, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of French pupils took to the streets on Tuesday to protest against school reforms, increasing pressure on President Jacques Chirac's conservative government after a wave of public sector strikes.

Blowing whistles and waving banners reading "Pupils are angry" and "Reforms? No thanks?", crowds of teenagers marched through central Paris as Education Minister Francois Fillon presented his controversial reform bill to parliament.

Organisers said more than 100,000 pupils took part in protests across France, including 80,000 in Paris. Police put the figure for Paris at 30,500 and gave no nationwide figure.

Feelings ran high in the capital, where French radio said at least four people were slightly injured and the windows of a few buildings were smashed during the protests.

Turnout was strong even though Fillon announced on Sunday that he would remove a controversial exam proposal from his school reforms package -- a key demand voiced in similar protests across France last week.

The students called for the complete withdrawal of the bill, saying schools lack the means to implement plans such as the creation of minimum standards for all pupils in several subjects. Teachers are also protesting against job cuts.

More than 100,000 students protested last week against changes to the "bac", an exam which French pupils take at the end of high school to secure places at university.

The students had resisted a change to base part of the results on school work done over the year instead of just on nationwide year-end exams, saying this would be subjective and give graduates from good high schools an unfair advantage.

Fillon said that despite his withdrawal of his initial plans for the "bac"'s reform, he would develop new plans on it soon. He said the government would not make a habit of changing its reform plans in response to public protests.

"If we had listened to the street for the last two and a half years, we would not have had pension reforms or health care reforms or, obviously, education reforms," Fillon said before presenting his slimmed-down bill in parliament.

Hundreds of thousands of French public sector workers have taken to the streets and staged strikes in recent weeks, protesting against planned changes to the 35-hour work week, job cuts, working conditions and controversial cutbacks.

The government of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin is worried that voters might voice their anger over government policies in a referendum on the European Union's constitution, which is due before the summer.

Raffarin and Chirac, who are campaigning for a 'yes' vote on the EU text, have urged the French not to let their constitution vote be influenced by domestic policy debates.

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"Nous Sommes Tous Des Casseurs" (We Are All Hooligans) - Youth Revolt in France, March 1994:
http://www.geocities.com/cordobakaf/casseurs.html

The Class Struggles in France (1995):
http://www.geocities.com/aufheben2/auf_5_france.html