‘Our cause is too important to back down,’ say French protesters

Anne-Edith Fraisseix has attended plenty of protests over the years. But the 19-year-old university student said it was the first time she felt that she had to run for her life when police tear-gassed demonstrators during the recent wave of unrest in France. 

“When I arrived at Place de la Republique in Paris on [17 October], there was already tear gas in the air. The orchestra that was playing there had been [tear-gassed],” said the second-year student at Sorbonne Nouvelle University.

After scenes of chaos, there were long stretches of calm before clashes between demonstrators and police broke out again. “I was then tear-gassed and I saw people being clubbed. At one point, I really felt I had to run for my life.”

Fraisseix, a secretary of the local chapter of the National Union of Students of France (UNEF), is among hundreds of thousands of students who have joined a massive movement that began in high schools over teacher shortages and dilapidated schools in late September. University students have joined the protests to express concerns over a lack of funding for universities, the cost of living, and an “opaque” admissions system known as Parcoursup. 

The unrest reached a turning point on 17 October, when an estimated 800,000 people took to the streets across the country. While most demonstrations were peaceful, clashes with police, vandalism and looting have overshadowed the marches. Videos of alleged police violence and reports of minors suffering drastic injuries have also intensified scrutiny of police tactics ahead of more demonstrations planned for this weekend. 

Despite fearing for her safety, Fraisseix said she had no intention of staying home this weekend because she felt it was important to “fight against the repression of the movement” and call for more financial aid for students, increased capacity and funding at universities, and an end to differentiated fees for non-EU students.

She explained that even with scholarship funding and help from her family, living in Paris meant constantly having to watch how much she spends. “I’m always thinking about how to afford basic things like food and other living expenses, this creates a lot of stress,” she said. 

Thousands of miles away, protests are also taking place in French Guiana, an overseas region of France, albeit on a much smaller scale. 

Wesbelkah Dumercy, 22, said even getting to university can be a challenge for many students in the “forgotten” region. French Guiana has just one university, and students living in remote communities deep in the Amazon rainforest sometimes have to endure lengthy journeys of up to three hours to reach their classes.

“We have a population of over 300,000 and only one university, the University of French Guiana. A lot of students who live far away can’t attend it. Some young people abandon plans to attend university altogether because the cost and distance make studying impractical,” she said. 

Dumercy considers herself lucky as she was able to secure accommodation near the campus. Having spent most of her childhood in state care, Dumercy said she had to become financially independent at 18. She now works alongside her studies, with accommodation costing about €400 (£335) a month against a scholarship of approximately €600. 

The problems do not end when students reach campus. Dumercy described shortages of teachers, chairs and other classroom equipment, as well as problems with electricity supply and safety after dark. “We are forgotten a lot [by mainland France]. There are a lot of things that other students over there have [that] we don’t,” she said.

As a student representative at UNEF, she helped organise a blockade at the university which involved around 200 protesters, she estimated. “It’s not a lot of people because they are afraid of the police here,” she said, adding that students also feared jeopardising the limited opportunities available to them. 

Dumercy acknowledged that she sometimes shares those fears. But she intends to continue campaigning for better university conditions.

Back on mainland France, 19-year-old Aiden Sausverd said she was resting in preparation for the next round of protests. A student at the Université De Bourgogne France, she took part in a university blockade before joining thousands of protesters in the city of Dijon on 17 October.

“We got stopped brutally by police forces. They sprayed tear gas at us,” she said. After inhaling the gas, she sought refuge in a nearby building. 

Despite repeated demonstrations, Sausverd believes the government has failed to respond to students’ longstanding demands. “I don’t hope a lot from this government any more,” she added. “We have a lack of chairs and tables at universities,” she said, adding that institutions needed more funding. She also described students struggling to afford food, while subsidised university restaurants were often too crowded to accommodate everyone.

She is determined to join Saturday’s protests, despite the prospect of violent confrontations with police. “It’s very scary to have to deal with this, but I think that the cause is too important to stay at home,” she said.

seher.asaf@timeshighereducation.com