[Peace-discuss] Greek students' protest spreads..to Paris!

[Chris Tuck]

French protest over school reforms
       *Organisers said about 13,600 people took part in protests in Paris
[AFP] *

Protest against education reforms have taken place across France despite an
announcement earlier this week by the government that it would
postpone changes to the secondary school curriculum indefinitely.

Thirty eight people were arrested in Lyon where five police officers were
injured in scuffles with a group of about 150 demonstrators who threw rocks,
damaged cars, set fire to rubbish cans and smashed bus shelters.

About 200 students briefly blocked a high-speed train line in the main
station in the nearby city of Dijon.

Several thousand students also took part in protests held in Paris and the
city of Rennes in western France.

Police in the French capital used tear gas after clashes on the margins of a
demonstration in the old student quarter near the Luxembourg gardens, where
organisers said about 13,600 people took part.

Protests over plans to revamp the school curriculum, cut classroom hours and
slash 13,500 education jobs had already turned violent last week, with
students again clashing with police in several cities.

Xavier Darcos, France's education minister, had agreed to postpone the
reforms amid fears of social unrest modelled on the on-going demonstrations
that have engulfed Greece.

But French students have kept up calls for the plans to be dropped
permanently.

*'Widespread misperceptions'*

Francois Fillon, France's prime minister, said the government was prepared
to consider some changes to the reforms but he said there was no question of
cancelling the project, which the government said was aimed at making the
state school system more effective.

Fillon said: "We have decided to take more time with schools because there
have been widespread misperceptions. We are going to re-open consultations,
so we are ready to accept changes in the reform."

Protesters insisted they would maintain their action until the government
backed down definitively.

"We won't resume discussions until the government gives up its plans to cut
jobs," said Alix Nicolet, president of the FIDL students' union, who
contrasted cuts in public spending with the sums used to bail out crisis-hit
banks.

"You keep hearing about the financial crisis, that there's no money for
young people, and on the other hand you give out billions to the banks and
of course that creates discontent," she said.



-- 
Chris Tuck
"People should not be afraid of their governments,
Governments should be afraid of their people."
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