Student and Professional Unions Set Oct. 13 Mobilization After 450,000 Take to Streets.
On Thursday, French student and professional unions called a new day of mobilization and demonstrations for Oct. 13 to demand improvements in educational conditions.
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This new call comes at a time when thousands of people are demonstrating in the streets of France, continuing the mobilization of Oct. 6 that drew at least 450,000 protesters.
The Oct. 13 mobilization was announced by the Student Union spokeswoman Sabrine Kharbach, who was participating in a march at the Bastille Square in Paris.
“We need concrete measures now. As long as 10 billion euros are not put on the table, we will not stop the mobilization,” Kharbach said, calling it a “historic” struggle that goes beyond the study conditions of high school students.
🔴 La responsable de l’Union Étudiante Sabrine Kharbach à la sortie de l’audience avec Édouard Geffray, ministre de l’éducation nationale : “Monsieur le ministre est un irresponsable. S’il ne sait pas prendre de décision, alors adressons-nous à Monsieur Lecornu.” pic.twitter.com/OiEPhteQPe
— Informations Ouvrières (@InfosOuvrieres) October 7, 2026
The text reads, “Sabrine Kharbach, a representative of the Student Union, speaking after the meeting with the Education Minister Edouard Geffray: ‘The Minister is acting irresponsibly. If he is unable to make a decision, then let us turn to Mr. Lecornu’.”
She noted that the students’ struggle is receiving increasingly broad support with the backing of farmers, firefighters, and teachers. French unions called another day of protest for Nov. 5.
The student revolt, which began on the outskirts of Paris in mid-September, has disrupted the school routine of France’s 2.7 million high school students and has generated recurring pickets at the gates of hundreds of educational centers.
The Macron administration has accused left-wing organizations such as La France Insoumise, and its 2027 presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, of stoking the revolts.
🇫🇷🚨 #France : High school and university student demonstration: first tensions in Paris at Place de la #Bastille , police charge and use of tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Brutual Clashes in #Paris right now🚨🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/waQ0ZeCXPF
— World_Breaking_News03 (@Breaking2003) October 8, 2026
Police Brutality Continues Unabated
On Thursday, police violently cracked down on student marches in Paris, using tear gas to try to disperse the gathering at the Bastille Square, where thousands of young people were protesting without notable incidents.
“Some cobblestones have been thrown and pyrotechnic mortars fired at the security forces deployed on Bastille street,” the Paris Police Headquarters reported, noting that no injuries were recorded.
“The Bastille Square is full… Faced with this, in agreement with the organizer, officers are accompanying the exit of a column toward Nation via Rue de Lyon, Avenue Daumesnil and Boulevard Diderot,” it added.
For now, there are no official figures of arrests or injuries at the Bastille Square, but there are records in protests in other cities such as Reims, where a police officer was hospitalized in emergency after being hit by a projectile. A young man was taken into police custody after this incident.
Since mid-September, at least 6,600 people have been arrested for the protests — most of them minors — and over 200 demonstrators have been injured.
So far, police actions have caused cases of seriously injured teenagers: one lost a hand, another the vision in one eye, and a third suffered injuries to the mouth and jaw. In response to police brutality, mothers and fathers have joined the demonstrations both to support the demands and to protect their children.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
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