Oct 8, 2026 · 28 min · 13 segments
What began as a revolt over public school funding has spilled into a much bigger fight over the future of France. Now, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets, and clashes with…
Tristan RedmanHost
Asma KhalidHost
There were demonstrations across more than 40 towns and cities in France, hundreds of thousands of people on the streets.
There were scenes of bins being burnt, uh, riot police out, students, high school students primarily protesting, calling for better education conditions in their high schools.
They're not paid enough, and they say that the conditions under which they're learning have just become impossible.
They were organized by high school student unions, but they gained momentum, and this week they've been joined by other groups, including, uh, nationwide trade unions, which led to these demonstrations across the country on Tuesday.
Organizers say more than 500,000 people took part in these protests, um, police say around 250,000, out there supporting the high school students in their calls for more state funding for education and also to express a more generalized dissatisfaction with the way the country is being run.
And look, French demonstrations, this is a, you know, this is a well-practiced, well-oiled machine.
You know, there's always a bunch of people selling, uh, merguez sausage, hot dogs.
Um, you have these vans going down the street with massive, massive speakers on the roof kind of pulsing out, you know, demonstration songs and-
So as you mentioned earlier on, a 15-year-old boy at a demonstration in the north of France had his hand blown off on Monday.
Now, this week, in reaction to that, the police said that they were gonna scale back some of their, uh, some of their tactics because that shocked people, even though...
You know, if you think back to the Gilets Jaunes, the, the yellow vest demonstrations back in 2018, 2019, uh, I remember interviewing people who'd lost eyes, um, who'd, who'd had their hands blown off in those demonstrations.
This unfortunately is something that happens, but for it to happen to a child, a 15-year-old, is something that has really shocked people, and the police have had to take stock of that and react, and, and they've said they're no longer gonna use some of their more aggressive tactics in handling these demonstrations.
There were demonstrations across more than 40 towns and cities in France, hundreds of thousands of people on the streets.
There were scenes of bins being burnt, uh, riot police out, students, high school students primarily protesting, calling for better education conditions in their high schools.
They're not paid enough, and they say that the conditions under which they're learning have just become impossible.
They were organized by high school student unions, but they gained momentum, and this week they've been joined by other groups, including, uh, nationwide trade unions, which led to these demonstrations across the country on Tuesday.
Organizers say more than 500,000 people took part in these protests, um, police say around 250,000, out there supporting the high school students in their calls for more state funding for education and also to express a more generalized dissatisfaction with the way the country is being run.
And look, French demonstrations, this is a, you know, this is a well-practiced, well-oiled machine.
You know, there's always a bunch of people selling, uh, merguez sausage, hot dogs.
Um, you have these vans going down the street with massive, massive speakers on the roof kind of pulsing out, you know, demonstration songs and-
So as you mentioned earlier on, a 15-year-old boy at a demonstration in the north of France had his hand blown off on Monday.
Now, this week, in reaction to that, the police said that they were gonna scale back some of their, uh, some of their tactics because that shocked people, even though...
You know, if you think back to the Gilets Jaunes, the, the yellow vest demonstrations back in 2018, 2019, uh, I remember interviewing people who'd lost eyes, um, who'd, who'd had their hands blown off in those demonstrations.
This unfortunately is something that happens, but for it to happen to a child, a 15-year-old, is something that has really shocked people, and the police have had to take stock of that and react, and, and they've said they're no longer gonna use some of their more aggressive tactics in handling these demonstrations.
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