French students block dozens of schools, vow more protests

Now, here in France, students are blocking the entrances to dozens of high schools once again because they keep up protests for better conditions. They're vowing to continue their strike after a meeting between the government and student representatives broke down yesterday. Let's cross now to Luc Schrager, who's at the Panthéon in the centre of Paris where the Students' March is about to begin. Luc, what is happening where you are? Well, it's another day of student anger here in Paris on Tuesday with a protest march due to kick off in about 45 minutes, about 2 p.m. local time. Now, you can see just behind me here at Place du Panthéon, there's not all that many people, a few dozen people really beginning to get ready for the rally. People slowly starting to drift into the square. It is still somewhat early, but we have to point out at this point, this is not the same kind of day of protest that we saw last Thursday. This is not so much a nationwide moment of general strike, and massive protest with the involvement of the Yellow Vest and wider discontent against the government, for example. This is a moment for the students to really continue to push their demands and ensure that they're not being forgotten as this crisis continues to endure. Now, the students have planned three protest marches for Tuesday. This one, which had its route adjusted by the authorities, another one which was banned, and a third one further to the south, which was transformed by authorities into what they call a static gathering which will mean it will be a rally of sorts really. Now it's a moment really for the... it's sparked this discontent with the students because they accused the government and the authorities of attempting to render their movement less visible as this crisis endures. With the police for their part it seems their strategy is going to be one of containment, keeping the students far from the centre of Paris and the French capital's administrative and commercial heart. And this all happening, Luke, after talks failed last night. Indeed, students warned that they would protest on Tuesday, but we saw a further catalyst for that later on Monday afternoon after the collapse of discussions at the Prime Minister's office. Now, that had meant to be the first session for the Parcoursup Reform Committee. The Parcoursup, of course, being the university admissions algorithm, which is deeply unpopular and controversial with students. They say they want it immediately repealed, calling it biased and a block in the path of entirely too many students towards university. The government has said that it would be repealed and replaced in 2028 with talks around that meant to be happening on Monday. However, what we saw was an almost immediate walkout. The students on exiting saying that they said the government had failed to arrive with any proposals or budget towards its demands, pointing to a complete lack of progress, the same lack of progress we've seen for the last nearly two months now. But it also came down to who was at that meeting. We specifically can point to the presence of one far-right-leaning student union, as well as politicians from the far-right National Rally and the employers' organisation Medef. Now, there's little trust between the far-right and the student organisers, with little love lost between the two. And they said that their presence to discuss a university admissions algorithm was simply illegitimate and served no purpose. Now, they are taking their anger. Back to the streets on Tuesday for another showdown with the government, which will be one that, again, is going to the streets rather than around the negotiating table. Lou Schrager reporting there. Thank you.