France’s Education Minister Édouard Geffray announced on Thursday the hiring of 3,000 substitute teachers between Friday and next Tuesday, in an attempt to calm escalating protests by high school students demanding better educational conditions, but student organizations said the measures are not enough to suspend their demands.

French Education Minister Édouard Geffray said the substitutes would be deployed between Friday and the following Tuesday, alongside additional hires and the possibility of extending school hours. The measures came at the close of another day of marches in several cities marked by police repression.

The Interior Ministry reported 71,500 participants nationwide on Thursday, 24,500 of them in Paris. That figure fell below the massive marches of previous days.

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In the capital, the final stretch of the protest at Place de la Bastille ended in police charges, tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd.

The crisis that began in mid-September affects 2.7 million secondary students. At least 6,600 people have been arrested, more than 700 security agents injured and about 200 protesters hurt. Some adolescents suffered permanent injuries.

Student organizations made clear the government’s announcement would not stop their demands. Secondary education unions rejected the acts of violence last week, while student spokespeople said the government tries to link the mobilizations with violent groups to delegitimize their claims. They insisted that those responsible for the disturbances operate separately and independently from the protests.

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Repression Draws Condemnation

The response of security forces has drawn accusations of excessive force in recent days. Gendarme interventions have left several teenagers with grave wounds. One protester lost sight in one eye, another suffered severe facial fractures and a third had a hand amputated while trying to grab a police grenade.

Those injuries pushed mothers and fathers to join the marches, supporting their children’s demands and watching over their safety in the streets.

The municipal police chief of Port-de-Bouc was suspended after being filmed attempting to run over a group of students on October 2.

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The deployment of substitute teachers addresses a symptom, not the root of the discontent. Organizers argue the real demands concern resources, working conditions and the treatment of students by authorities. Until those issues are answered, the street mobilizations appear set to continue.

Student unions in France are demanding a 10 billion euro public investment to improve study conditions, and have called a national day of mobilization for Tuesday, October 13, with a broader strike announced for November 5.

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