Several universities in France have closed their campuses after university students joined a nationwide youth protest and blocked access to institutions across the country.
L’Union Étudiante, a prominent left-wing university student group, said it had mounted according to a “provisional count” as of Friday morning. In an earlier, the group said the blockades were “an expression of young people’s anger” against an increase in tuition fees fornon-European Union students, poor living conditions, and a shortage of university places that it says has made access to higher education too selective.
Paris Nanterre University said in a statement that it had closed its main campus on Friday after students blocked access in the morning, cancelling all teaching and other activities on the site. Toulouse Jean Jaurès University also closed its Mirail campus.
University of Montpellier Paul Valéry told ߣߣƵ that blockades had been mounted at its Route de Mende campus, forcing it to close the site for an “indefinite period”.Its other three campuses remain open.
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Students at Montpellier were due to hold a joint general assembly with high-school protesters on Friday. The said protesters would continue mobilising next week and were demanding, among other measures, university places for students previously unable to secure admission to undergraduate or master’s programmes and reimbursement of higher tuition fees paid by some non-EU students.
The university blockades are part of a much larger nationwide youth protest startedthis week in Paris by high-school pupils, who are protesting over a teacher shortage, overcrowded classrooms and rundown school buildings. Protesters are demanding more investment in education and improvementsin learning conditions.
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Therevolt has turned violent, reporting that this morning, 2 October, students lit fires outside schools andhave faced off against police. About 400 schools have been closed across the country and nearly 2,000 people have been arrested, according to the French interior ministry.
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