00:00French students and education unions returned to the streets on Thursday, saying the government
00:04has still not answered their demands. More than 250,000 people demonstrated nationwide
00:09on Tuesday. In Paris' 5th arrondissement, students were gathering from early morning,
00:14dragging bins into the streets and chanting. Their complaints include long school days,
00:19missing teachers and deteriorating school buildings.
00:41Teaching unions have also joined the mobilization, opposing proposed cuts to teaching positions
00:46and public sector pay freezes.
00:48Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu sought to ease tensions on Wednesday, acknowledging
00:52that the students' anger does not come from nowhere, and that no one can remain indifferent
00:57to the anxieties they express. He also said police had not been ordered to confront students.
01:03If we came to this blocus this morning, last Friday and last Friday, it was to bring all
01:08our support to the schools and schools who started this movement and were reprimed by the police.
01:16The government has launched an online consultation to collect students' demands.
01:20Lecornu said more than 40,000 responses had already been submitted and promised initial measures
01:25by the end of October. But protesters say they want concrete action.
01:30Police tactics have become another major source of tension. The government suspended the use
01:35of stun grenades at the protest after a 15-year-old lost a hand earlier this week.
01:41Students that I spoke to here on the streets of Paris told me that they would remain mobilized
01:46as long as necessary until they feel satisfied with the government's response to their demands.
01:52That being said, experts in social movements that I spoke to also said that student movements
01:58tend to dissipate when school holidays take place and France will have a half-term in a few weeks.
02:03So it remains to be seen what kind of impact that will have on the movement's momentum.
02:08Estelle Nelson-Julian reporting for Euronews from Paris.
02:10EM interactions with help
02:13EMF
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