School Principals Under Threat: Student Protests in France Get Out of Control

While most high schools in France experienced peaceful blockades of their entrances during the protests, other schools suffered acts of vandalism after a number of principals were injured and threatened.

Several of them recounted the difficulties they faced in dealing with these situations and reopening their educational institutions, according to a report by the French newspaper "Le Monde".

The student protests began at one high school in the Loire Valley, as happened in other schools, by placing several garbage containers in front of the building, organizing demonstrations, and making repeated attempts to close the school, with varying degrees of success. The first three days passed relatively calmly until October 1st.

On that day, at 6:30 AM, a group of teenagers gathered, pushing shopping carts from stores and garbage bins, in front of the school which has 1500 students, after messages targeting the educational institution spread on social media.

The principal of the school, who preferred not to be identified, said that things started escalating then, as young men she described as "out of control", wearing hooded jackets and masks, attacked the windows of the school lobby and set off fireworks. Police managed to contain the situation before leaving the scene, but the group returned and knocked down the fragile fence surrounding the school, storming its courtyard.

The principal recounted that one young man rushed towards her and delivered a strong blow to her chest and abdomen, momentarily depriving her of breath, before fleeing the scene. She explained that she was taken to the hospital, where she was granted two days of sick leave, but refused to stop working and returned to the school the next day. She said: "I could not leave my team in this situation."

The principal still does not know the identity of the person who assaulted her, nor whether he was one of the school's students. Although she confirmed that she did not suffer psychological trauma, her bitterness is evident given the continued turbulent situation, even after the school was closed for several days.

She added: "My mission is supposed to be educational. What is being asked of us now falls outside my responsibilities."

Masked Youths and Unprecedented Violence
Fireworks, broken windows, fires, vandalism, and injuries; these are the facts witnessed by some schools since the protest movement began in mid-September. While events in most educational institutions were limited to blocking entrances and peaceful demonstrations, or some schools remained away from the protest movement, other institutions became targets of vandalism and sometimes witnessed violent clashes.

The principals of these schools no longer speak of a "protest movement" but rather describe what is happening as a "crisis". After three weeks of events, many of them feel drained, while awaiting the last days before the autumn school holiday, which begins on October 17th and lasts until November 2nd.

According to French Education Minister Édouard Geffray, at least 24 high schools out of 3700 in the country have been burned or looted since the start of the protests, while hundreds of other schools have sustained damage, some significant.

The minister added that more than 210 students were injured, some during police interventions, along with 88 staff members in the national education sector, including about 40 school principals.

Geffray told the Cultural Affairs Committee of the French National Assembly on October 7th that workers in the sector were deliberately targeted in many cases, blaming "highly violent groups that infiltrated the gatherings".

He added: "There was a deliberate intent to practice violence against officials in the national education sector, and we have never seen anything like this before."

On October 1st, Richard Commo, principal of Ambroise Brugière High School in the city of Clermont-Ferrand in central France, was injured when about 10 masked youths approached a peaceful demonstration in front of the school and set off fireworks.

Commo said that the explosion of one firework hit him in the head, causing a burn on his scalp. He added, trying to downplay the incident: "Fortunately, I don't have much hair."

In the following days, he had to send one teaching assistant to the doctor after he suffered partial hearing loss due to a firework being set off near him, while another worker's coat caught fire.

Commo questioned the identity of the youths who set off the fireworks, and why they targeted symbols of the state and the educational system, whether through assaulting staff or buildings. He confirmed that, in his estimation, they were not students from his school.

He explained that he received dozens of messages from students and graduates, expressing their support for him and their bewilderment at what happened.

He said: "My only principle is the safety of the students, and so far, we manage every day to prevent things from getting out of control."

Not all incidents resulted in injuries or damage to buildings, but the mere possibility of such occurrences imposed great pressure on school administrations, many of which were unable to keep their doors open. Some institutions were closed for several days, while others reopened for one day before closing again the next, while other schools resorted to gradually bringing students back, making it difficult so far to provide a clear and comprehensive picture of the situation.

Threats and Insults Targeting School Principals
Cyril Kubo, principal of Parc de Loge High School in Évry-Courcouronnes, in the southern suburbs of Paris, said on October 8th that returning to normal varies greatly from region to region.

He added: "In my school, I simply cannot manage the situation," considering that finding a solution should be the responsibility of the educational institution.

Kubo explained that he faced a turning point on October 1st, the same day security forces detained more than 1900 people, a record number in France.

The student protest in front of his school turned into clashes, during which garbage bins were set on fire and fireworks were launched. He noted that this was partly linked to the participation of youths who came from outside the school, forcing him to close the building and evacuate it with the help of security forces.

Since then, Kubo has been subjected to threats and insults on social media because of his "desire to reopen the school". AI-generated posters were also produced, modifying one of his images to make him look like the devil, while in another poster he appeared with the word "Wanted" on his face, alongside images of principals of two other schools in the area.

Saying, referring to his shock at what happened: "I have worked in the national education sector for 28 years, struggling for education and student learning, and I never expected people to spit in my face like this."

He has not filed a complaint yet due to lack of time, as his focus has been on ensuring the safety of students.

These volatile conditions in dozens of schools angered educational administrations and exhausted their energy. On October 7th, the main union representing workers in these positions issued a formal warning regarding working conditions.

Gérard Heinz, a school principal in the city of Cholet in the Loire region, despite his school not witnessing major incidents, said: "We have been drained."

Fruitful Discussions Amid Strenuous Atmosphere
Like many of his colleagues, Heinz eagerly awaits the start of the autumn school holiday, but fears the last week before it.

He said: "We have been on alert since dawn, feeling constant concern for safety, but we are also worried about ourselves and the apartments allocated to staff inside the schools. We can no longer bear it."

He added that he began, for the first time in 25 years of work, to wonder if he was capable of handling this situation.

The challenges facing school administrations are not limited to securing buildings and students, but also include dealing with the contradiction between student demands, which workers in the education sector generally see as legitimate, and the bouts of violence accompanying the protests.

Pierre Fourrier, principal of a large high school with 3000 students in a deprived neighborhood in the city of Béziers in southern France, said that the troubled coexistence between the two phenomena makes managing the situation extremely difficult.

He pointed out that the surroundings of the school witnessed scenes he described as resembling an "urban war", involving groups of youths who he said did not belong to the school, coinciding with a heavy deployment of security forces.

Fourrier added: "During 26 years of work, I have witnessed many demonstrations, even some were somewhat tense, but I have never seen scenes of violence like these before."

He said he emerged from the past week exhausted, worrying about the most vulnerable students, who stopped attending classes, expressing fear that he might not see them again.

However, Fourrier managed to launch extensive consultations with students, and the discussions yielded results he described as fruitful.

He said: "Our team and our students truly rose to the level of the civic challenge imposed by this period, and this summarizes the state of contradiction we are living through."