00:00Secondary school pupils across France launched a fresh day of protest on Thursday despite
00:06government attempts to ease a crisis that has rocked the country for days. Children have
00:12blocked entrances to hundreds of schools across the country for more than a week, with squads
00:17of riot police deployed to control the situation, occasionally sparking violent clashes.
00:24Leader of the hard-left trans-embout party Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Thursday declared
00:30on social media the Bastille had been, quote, retaken after students staged demonstrations
00:36at Paris' infamous Place de la Bastille. While many students told Euronews they supported
00:43peaceful protests, others said they understood why violent outbursts occurred.
00:49Leader of the hard-left trans-embout parties are very close and convergent, with the
00:54same words that we hold for even for years. Because the situation of degradation that they
01:01live and that they suffer, it has been years that we have been denounced and it is because
01:04there was no response that we have been given to them that it has reached this scene-là.
01:08If we don't have any complaints, it's normal that there are no complaints. And face to
01:12the schools, the young people who are in the demand of education, they can send them to the police,
01:17it can't be a solution. We have to send emails, we have to talk, we have to discuss social discussions.
01:22For example, in all the revolution in history, they served as something. In 1789,
01:27there were a lot of deaths. We don't have any deaths, but we are looking for the violence
01:31to express. It's not violence to bless people, it's violence to change a system that hurts us.
01:35According to the Interior Ministry, some 71,500 people took part in Thursday's
01:41protests, with around 24,500 in Paris alone. France's Education Ministry said some 375 schools
01:50were fully or partially closed for the day.
