To think the French students are out of control?

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Demonstrating against large class sizes is one thing.

Smashing up shop windows and looting goods is another.

Idiots. They are 14/15 and when they are arrested the French authorities will come down on them and their criminal records will stay with them forever. Where are the parents in all of this?

Woukd this happen in the UK?

I think the French havd more passion for violent protest vive la revolution! I do believe that it’s being influenced by people with an agenda online. We are seeing it in the U.K. too.

I do think they have a point but property destruction just shifts the focus onto that. Useful idiots.

The French have a history of this kind of thing. Yes of course, La Revolution with Robespierre and the guillotine and all that, but in more recent history for example the soixante-huitards were a pretty bid deal - starting of as a student protest which led to a national strike, nearly brought down the government and brought in some massive labour deals to improve conditions for workers. Even when I was at uni in France in the 2000 I remember student strikes and protests including violent clashes with police in the street I was living in.
As to “there’s no money left” interestingly the money is still in the economy, it hasn’t left. All that’s changed is who has it. There are various ways of redistribution, whether through getting paid for work, taxation, profits from the work of others (owning the means of production, as Marx would have it), philanthropy… take your pick. If you feel the money is currently being redistributed in an unfair way and would like the government to seek to rectify that, violent protests are one way of bringing that to your attention (along with writing a strongly worded letter to the editor, posting on your MPs Facebook page, signing a petition… again take your pick).

I don't think it is just students that are protesting today.

It is also people who are fed up with the cost of living and having to struggle everyday.

Many of today's protests have just brought regular people to the streets and have been peaceful.

That said protesting is a national sport in France and people know how to get their voices heard which often involves burning a few things and squaring up to the police...

I am a dual national and sometimes I wish the British were less passive.

If the French were asked to pay outrageous utility, food and transport costs and had seen their seas and rivers polluted by sewage like we do in the UK, they would have burned the Elysee down by now...

The point is that French politicians still fear the electorate because they know they will take them to account.

Anyone who thinks they are school kids is a gullible fool. It’s highly orchestrated and full of the same instigators as JSO/BLM/ pro Pallywankers.
Send in the watercannon, shoot a few of them and it will soon stop.
They are thugs, it’s a miracle that there hasn’t been a mass casualty event in the Metro, rioters firing massive mortar fireworks down the steps of metro stations.
What does storming Galeries Lafayette and Louis Vuitton have to do with protests about education? Or destroying small businesses?

Yes Brussels and Milan protests along with france are supposed to be about the cost of living /low wages and fuel prices etc however as usual people jump on the band wagon don't they and under cover of genuine concerns loot.

Watching the Limoges hall burning to the ground is so sad. What is wrong with this generation. They’re going backwards.
Education is a privilege. One that is eligible to the normal not gifted working class for the first time in history.
I am 45, very few of us went to third level education in my area, now most of our children go or plan to go.

They are idiots, the same as the protestors here. Why don't they set up a political party if they want to change things, or join one of the existing parties and try to change things by legitimate means instead of by smashing things up and setting fire to things?

It looks like civil war to me. It's gone way beyond students protesting about education. It's distressing to watch. It's also spread to other countries. I honestly feel it's only a matter of time before it happens here. I don't know how the media is reporting it, but the footage on Twitter is horrifying.

'Education is a privilege'

It is not. It is a fundamental right and a legal obligation in the French Republic.

I went to university in the late 70s, there were people, particularly young women who were there and were proud to be the first from their communities to get to university. Some young women doing science degrees, when the ratio was 5 men to 1 woman. They knew they were privileged.

and were damned sure they weren't going to fail.

It is not. It is a fundamental right and a legal obligation in the French Republic Public schools all over Europe are having problems, in deprived areas many DC leave without any education.

My parents didn’t attend secondary school in the 60’s they had to work. I left after secondary school because I had to work. Third level education is a privilege. It isn’t an option for everyone.

My nieces and nephews are first generation for us although two siblings returned as adults to education.

My DD is doing her leaving before a science degree. So proud of her.

Looting McDonalds and burning town halls is not going to sort out the cost of living.

So many naive comments in this thread. Watch the videos online. They are not 'students'. Thry are thugs and looters. Most look like immigrants.

Civil war my arse.

It won't happen here. Imagine British students taking to the street. The blue hairs and the neuro diverse and the non-binaries. No, it isn't going to happen.

It's just tipped over into violent looting now. The yobs have got themselves some nice handbags.

It may become necessary for the French authorities to shoot to kill to get control of the situation with close to a million rioters on the streets.

I don’t believe it is just yobs. A lot of students are involved too. It is mob mentality but encouraged by a lot of extreme political supporters.

It won’t be long before it starts happening here. Young people with ever decreasing odds of getting a job, owning property, saddled with huge student debts. Not a lot of hope.

Have you actually seen the videos? These comments about the French tradition of protest are ridiculous- I very much doubt any of these people could trace their heritage back to the revolutionaries of the 1700s. 🙄

No, it won't happen here, British youth are pathetic.

The looting is disgusting.

100 per cent agree.

French students have protested before…….

Will you join in our crusade?
Whimwill be strong and stand with me?
Beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?
So join in the fight that will give you the chance to be free!