France prepares for protests for National School Day

France prepared for major protests on Tuesday, after organisers called for a nationwide day of action in support of students demanding more investment in education.

This comes after a week of demonstrations, in which students blocked hundreds of schools, at least 190 students were injured and more than 5,000 people were arrested, as the BBC writes.

One student had a hand severed during a confrontation on Monday, while another is reported to have been hit in the head by a tear-gas grenade last week.

France’s prime minister said the government had announced measures to address their demands, but the Union Syndicale Lycéenne (USL), a key organiser of the protests, said the government had offered “nothing concrete”.

The organisation called on people to join their mobilisation on Tuesday in the face of “this political deadlock and what we describe as unprecedented repression of the movement”.

Several other organisations have also shown their support for the students, with the teachers’ union SNES-FSU calling on its members to join Tuesday’s protest.

The leader of the radical left party La France Insoumise (LFI), Jean-Luc Mélenchon, described the protests as “the most powerful movement of high-school and university students” since 1968 — a year of major unrest, which saw millions of workers go on strike.

The wave of demonstrations began in September in Paris and has spread across the country, with students protesting over a range of issues, including overcrowded classrooms, dilapidated buildings and a shortage of teachers.