Protests resume outside French high schools after school break

Описание: (3 Nov 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Helen Boucher High School, Paris - 3 November 2026
1. Wide of students protesting outside Helen Boucher High School, chanting
2. Various of police officers gathered at protest site
3. Wide of Philosophy teacher Isabelle Dumoulin
4. SOUNDBITE (French) Isabelle Dumoulin, philosophy teacher:
“With the inadequate political responses — completely inadequate — and also with the police presence outside high schools, it’s a bit like saying, ‘Stop playing around. Recess is over.’ You see this slightly condescending attitude. To be honest, we have to call it what it is: condescension, with small responses from government politicians. I’m not saying it’s nothing, but it’s not much, and on top of that, saying, ‘OK, it’s over now. Come on, kids, go back inside ( the classrooms).’ I think that those who are deciders in all this misunderstand the youth. They are not cattle; they are not sheep; they are not to be treated like babies.”
5. Various of police officers standing in front of protesters
6. SOUNDBITE (French) Isabelle Dumoulin, philosophy teacher:
"And honestly, in the discussions we had yesterday (amongst school staff), not a single one of us thought this situation would arise this morning. We expressed our concern to our hierarchy, which I believe shares it, because the school hierarchy is not the police hierarchy; we shouldn't mix everything up. We expressed our concern about how things unfolded yesterday morning, as it didn't seem conducive to a serene return to normalcy. Well, I don't know what normalcy is, but at least a calm return to classes."
7. Various of police lined up in front of students, chanting
STORYLINE:
High school students resumed protests on Monday after the school break and continued on Tuesday outside the Hélène Boucher high school in eastern Paris, with teachers now on strike, saying conditions were not suitable for classes to resume.

Philosophy teacher Isabelle Dumoulin criticized the response from authorities.

“With the inadequate political responses, completely inadequate, and also with the police presence outside high schools, it’s a bit like saying, ‘Stop playing around. Recess is over,’” she said.

Dumoulin said, “You see this slightly condescending attitude. To be honest, we have to call it what it is: condescension, with small responses from government politicians.”

The philosophy teacher added that decision-makers misunderstood young people.

“They are not cattle, they are not sheep, they are not to be treated like babies,” she said.

She said school staff had not expected the situation that unfolded outside the school that morning.

“In the discussions we had yesterday, not a single one of us thought this situation would arise this morning,” Dumoulin said.

She added, “We expressed our concern to our hierarchy, which I believe shares it, because the school hierarchy is not the police hierarchy; we shouldn’t mix everything up.”

She said staff were concerned about how events had unfolded, as it “didn’t seem conducive to a serene return to normalcy.”

Protests in France started last month over neglected school buildings, teacher shortages and a university admissions system seen as unfair to disadvantaged students.

AP video shot by Nicolas Garriga

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