As French protests escalate into riots, they may prove a gift for Marine Le Pen’s right‑wing party

Mass protests in France have spiralled into riots, with between 500,000 and 800,000 demonstrators in cities and towns across the country, most of them students. More than 100 police and many more protesters have been injured, and more than 2,000 people have so far been arrested. Major public buildings — such as the town hall in Limoges and the historic tourist office in Lyon — were destroyed, while other public buildings were damaged and hundreds of shops were looted by small groups of mainly young men.

The protests began in the working-class suburb of Créteil in southeastern Paris on September 21 when high school students demonstrated against poor conditions: dilapidated facilities, a shortage of teachers and inconvenient timetabling (schools in France often spread classes between 8am and 6pm, including Saturday mornings, leaving one clear afternoon).

This summer’s heatwaves were still being felt in September in classrooms with no cooling systems. Senior school students have been further frustrated by the inefficiencies and inequities of the Parcoursup university application online portal. Many French schoolteachers share their students’ concerns with large classes and poor conditions — and salary scales that are comparatively low compared with other professions (police earn more, for example).

There are many other schools where facilities are poor, and classes are large. Even so, no-one expected the protests to spread so rapidly to another 700 schools across the country. There was widespread shock at the speed with which the protests spread, apparently without leaders or manifestos. But the protests in comparatively wealthy parts of cities suggested there is more going on than just anger at cockroaches in the toilets.

1968 parallels

The parallels with May 1968 are important here. Then, it was predominantly university students who protested against a stultifying and traditional educational system. But they were also protesting against what they described as a société bloquée: a world of conservative politics and social hierarchies, and limited opportunities.

There is plainly a similar mood among high school students today that their life chances are limited by AI and the grim realities of climate change and international conflict. Neither the centre-right government of Emmanuel Macron nor its likely right-wing successor, the Rassemblement National led by Marine Le Pen, appeals. Similarly, the recent eruption of student and wider protests in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Belgium suggests the issues are not confined to the nature of secondary schooling in France alone.

In Spain, for example, the largest protests for many years have been primarily focused on access to affordable housing. Across the Western world, the years since 2020 in particular have been marked by deep resentment from those whose lives were upended by pandemic restrictions, rising costs of living and housing crises. These combined have hit particular sections of society hard while others have benefited. Now, this is being exacerbated by an energy crisis aggravated by war in the Middle East and Ukraine.

It is important to distinguish clearly between the protesting school students, their supporters and many teachers and parents, and the hooded, violent young people (mainly men) — popularly known as casseurs. These men smashed their way into shops, set fire to public buildings and attacked police.

Over recent decades, labour protests and those of the “yellow vests” (gilets jaunes, largely focused on cost of living issues) have also been the occasion for violent confrontation and property destruction on the margins. Such deliberately anti-social action represents a violent repudiation of the structures of French institutions and society. It has no claim to the legitimacy of a centuries-long tradition of collective protest in France.

Where will it end?

It is impossible to know just where the protests might lead. As in 1968, hostility over disruptions and property damage may cause a backlash against the students where there has until now been sympathy. It’s also possible divisions may again emerge between students and the union movement. Perhaps the protests will continue to spread through Europe.

Certainly, they have become a key factor in the looming French presidential elections of April 2027. French politics are broadly divided into three blocs that refuse to cooperate with each other: an extreme right, a centre-right and an extreme left. It has been simple for Le Pen and other right-wing politicians to both promise she would reimpose discipline in schools, increase funding for police and target the casseurs as “obviously” illegal migrants to be deported.

The violence on the margins of what were massive, peaceful demonstrations has been an early Christmas present for her. It is also potentially ruinous for Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his left-wing La France Insoumise party, which has strongly backed the protests. The immediate issue is whether Macron’s beleaguered government is able to respond to legitimate student demands in a way which might defuse the tensions within a deeply angry society.

This article first appeared in The Conversation.