The student mobilization began on September 18 in Créteil, located south-east of Paris. Participants demanded immediate improvements to deteriorating school facilities, the addition of more teachers, smaller class sizes, and less grueling schedules.
School Blockades Feed Wider Protests
By October 2, around 400 schools were shut down by student blockades. The demonstrations eventually merged with labor union campaigns, culminating in countrywide protests that led to severe rioting and property destruction.
Police Misconduct Investigations Follow Heavy-Handed Tactics
The French government responded with a heavy police presence, resulting in roughly 8,000 arrests and at least 24 schools being ransacked or set on fire. The heavy-handed police tactics galvanized further student opposition.
France’s official police watchdog launched investigations into at least 34 allegations of police misconduct since the movement started. The reported incidents include a 14-year-old boy who suffered severe injuries when an officer fired a tear-gas grenade at close range.
When questioned about the Snapchat infiltration claims, France’s Interior Ministry declined to confirm whether agents used the phrase. However, the ministry acknowledged that investigators routinely create pseudonyms to monitor and extract communications from individuals suspected of organizing unlawful activities during demonstrations.
Global Protests Echo Slogan Concerns
The slogan has crossed national borders. It appeared at demonstrations in Brussels on October 9.
It also emerged at student protests in Bologna and Milan, alongside banners displayed by a French school in Berlin. Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg repeated the phrase during a visit to striking students in Seine-Saint-Denis.
University student Sadanee Sabadi noted that the botched online messages exposed underlying prejudices regarding which demographics police assumed were orchestrating blockades.
High school student Phèdre Quémener echoed that sentiment. She called the phrase an example of racism that implies that the people who are going to vandalize property are Arab.
