Protests · updated 1h ago · 3 min read
France Police Spokesperson Agathe Foucault Defends Necessary Force During High School Protests
Police defense of necessary and proportionate force amid high school protests targeting police, teachers, students. Foucault said some demonstrators intended to commit damage rather than peaceful protest.
Whether intelligence or government claims tie blame to LFI.
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Reuters
“Intelligence agencies told a crisis meeting on Thursday that the protest movement had been initiated by politicians from the hard-left France Unbowed party (LFI).”Read the original ↗
Reuters emphasises intelligence-agency attribution of instigation to LFI, while France 24 cites a broader government blame claim.
Police justify force
France’s police spokesperson Agathe Foucault defended a “necessary and proportionate” use of force during high school protests in several towns, as injuries inflicted on adolescents drew criticism and sparked investigations. Foucault told BFMTV that “We are faced with individuals who are no longer there to express ideas in a peaceful context, but who are there to commit damage, violence against police officers, teachers, and students,” while Amnesty International France condemned the use of force during blockades and protests. Amnesty International France said it documented the case of a 14-year-old high school student seriously injured by a jaw fracture on September 28 in Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône, Val-d’Oise, and it said the teenager was hit by a projectile fired at very short range with a launcher grenade.
Amnesty reported that the Defender of Rights had taken up the case, and it said two investigations had been opened after the injury. The General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) was seized, and Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced the opening of three IGPN investigations concerning adolescents injured during the protests.
Violence targets schools
Riot police clashed with high school students in cities across France on Friday, as tear gas clouded the streets in Strasbourg and fireworks were aimed at police lines in Marseille. Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin told RTL radio that police had arrested 2,000 people, most of them teenagers, since the protests began, and he said parents of those inflicting damage to property should be made to pay reparations. In Paris, students waved placards reading “We have a future to build, not to endure,” and the protests spread beyond the Paris region as rubbish bins were set ablaze in Rennes.
Education Minister Edouard Geffray urged parents to dissuade their children from protesting in the streets, and he said, “In the streets, the children are in danger.” The Reuters account also said intelligence agencies told a crisis meeting on Thursday that the protest movement had been initiated by politicians from the hard-left France Unbowed party (LFI), and senior LFI lawmakers rebutted the allegations.R
Closures and arrests
France’s government kept hundreds of schools closed as student protests turned violent, with France 24 reporting that some 400 establishments would remain shuttered on Friday. FEducation Minister Edouard Geffray said “the high school student movement is being held hostage by ultra-violent fringe groups,” and he told BFMTV that at least 65 staff members had been injured since the start of the movement. Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said he asked prosecutors to hold parents liable for damage caused by their children during the protests and to “pay for repairs,” while Reuters reported that 1,949 people were arrested on Thursday.R
The protests also disrupted schooling at a large scale, with France 24 saying nearly 400 high schools out of the 3,700 in the country were expected to be closed on Friday, and it said more than 100 high schools had suffered “severe damage.” FIn Rennes, a student named Lola, 16, said, “As far as we’re concerned, we’ve won – our school is closed this morning,” while she condemned what she said was police violence and said, “It makes us even angrier – the police have no right to hit us or use tear gas on us.”