France, marches by high school and university students across the country: figures double depending on the source

Dozens of French cities were crossed on October 6 by a national mobilisation of high school students, university students, teachers and trade unions, in what the organising groups described as one of the most widely attended days of protest in the country in recent times.

The figures diverge sharply depending on the source. According to the French Interior Ministry, there were about thirty demonstrations across the country involving 266,000 people, of whom 56,000 were in Paris alone. The high school and student organisations, backed by the CGT, instead claim overall participation of 450,000 people, with 100,000 present in the capital alone.

Beyond the count of participants, the ministry provided other data on how the day unfolded: 684 schools were reported blocked by the mobilisations, 488 people were detained by law enforcement and 43 officers were injured in clashes linked to the marches.

Faced with the scale of the mobilisation, the government put forward a concrete proposal: a half-day without lessons to be held by the end of the week, intended for internal dialogue within schools among students, teachers and administrators. The measure represents an attempt to open a direct channel of dialogue within schools, rather than limiting the response to public-order measures against the street protests.

The organising groups do not, however, appear to consider the phase of mobilisation over. The Union syndicale lycéenne and the Union étudiante have already announced new marches for Thursday, an appointment the organisations themselves have dubbed “acte IV”, signalling that the October 6 day of action is being regarded as just one stage in an ongoing protest campaign.

It remains to be seen, in the coming hours, how the fourth day of mobilisation announced for Thursday will unfold and whether the government’s proposal for a half-day of school dialogue can be implemented within the stated deadline, ahead of the new street demonstration.