STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Some other news now - protesters are blocking the entrances of more than 200 high schools in France. Again today, hundreds of thousands of high school students have been demonstrating. The prime minister said last night that France will do more to replace absent teachers and renovate facilities that are falling apart. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley is covering this from Paris. Hi, Eleanor.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: How's the prime minister trying to resolve this?
BEARDSLEY: Well, he spoke to the nation last night, and Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu was specific and broad. He started with the high schoolers and said the students would be heard. He condemned the violence and said the police were never given orders to affront the students. You know, there's been a lot of anger among students over what they say are aggressive police tactics on young protesters. Lecornu proposed a one-month time of reflection for students, teachers and lawmakers to come up with answers that he said would be part of a bill debated by Parliament in November.
But he spent the second part of the speech explaining the difficulties France faces - the world context, skyrocketing energy costs and wars. He explained that there are budget constraints because each time the government addresses a crisis like COVID, it borrows money. And he said France is paying higher interest on that debt now.
INSKEEP: OK, so the prime minister says, let's take a month off. Let's calm down. Let's see if we can legislate about this. What do students say in response?
BEARDSLEY: Well, they're not satisfied, and they say the government is just playing for time, hoping that these demonstrations will peter out. But for the moment, the movement has widened to include college students. Yesterday, I was out in Paris, where students from an elite university, Sciences Po, had joined in, and they had completely blocked a main boulevard in central Paris. They were behind a barricade of plastic Dempster dumpsters chanting antipolice slogans at a line of riot police on the other side. There was tear gas being fired. It was tense. So let's listen to what a couple of students had to say. Here is 18-year-old Shelbone Colbeva.
SHELBONE COLBEVA: I'm absolutely outraged by what's going on with the educational system. It's not just, like, a little manifestation. It's a revolt. We are revolting. We are not accepting.
BEARDSLEY: So she says this protest movement will intensify, and she's hoping firefighters, farmers and others will join. These college protesters said they're privileged, and that's why they have to lend their voices to help, you know, young high schoolers in poorer neighborhoods, who they say have been forgotten by the French state. These protests are also about equality. And 19-year-old Clara Houssain told me that the French education system is supposed to be a meritocracy, and it's not. And she said it's not equal either. Here she is.
CLARA HOUSSAIN: There's rats in the schools. There's holes in the windows. There - it's not suitable conditions to study. They don't have a French teacher for six months. And then we're asked to pass an exam, and that exam is supposed to be fair. But it's not fair if you haven't had a teacher for six months.
BEARDSLEY: So, you know, in his speech last night, Lecornu said there would be more teachers found, and he also said, quote, "a top priority is to improve the material conditions of the buildings, especially in the face of climate change" because, Steve, there's no air conditioning in French schools either.
INSKEEP: Wow. How does all of this fit into the politics of France?
BEARDSLEY: Well, for the far left, these protests fit perfectly into their platform of social injustice. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who polls show is in the lead to win next spring's presidential race, has said order must be restored, but she also knows she can't totally alienate this youth. But these young people regularly chant about how much they hate her party.
INSKEEP: What happens next?
BEARDSLEY: Well, protesting is such a fundamental right in France, and so protesters sometimes get the feeling that their demands must be answered immediately, and we're seeing some of that. But, Steve, in one week, the All Saints' Day vacation begins. It's two weeks long, and that will likely end these protests for now, at least.
INSKEEP: NPR's Eleanor Beardsley's in Paris. Eleanor, thanks so much.
BEARDSLEY: You're welcome.
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