UN experts raise concern over French police response to student protests

A group of United Nations experts has voiced concern over what they describe as excessive force used by French authorities in breaking up recent nationwide student demonstrations. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the four experts, appointed under the UN Human Rights Council, said the scale of arrests and detentions, affecting several thousand people, mostly minors, appeared disproportionate and risked discouraging people from exercising their rights to free expression and peaceful assembly. The group included Gina Romero, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly, and Farida Shaheed, the UN expert on cultural rights.

The experts noted that while French authorities had launched efforts in October to open dialogue and address student grievances, the emphasis on a security-driven response had overshadowed the underlying causes of the protests.

The demonstrations have continued since mid-September, originally triggered by complaints over poor conditions in high schools, including deteriorating buildings, overcrowded classrooms and teacher shortages. The protests later expanded to include wider anger over the rising cost of living, with some demonstrations descending into rioting and looting.

According to France's Interior Ministry, authorities deployed 70,000 security personnel and arrested 1,000 people during protests last Saturday, which drew around 410,000 participants across the country. The previous week saw further unrest, with public buildings vandalised, hundreds of businesses looted, and 2,700 arrests made. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the government would maintain a firm and vigilant stance to prevent further disorder.

Observers have linked the government's difficulty in resolving student grievances to an ongoing fiscal crisis and planned budget cuts that have reduced education funding.