In Paris, a high school blockade to denounce the sanitary conditions degenerates

Coronavirus: High school students demonstrate to denounce the health protocol in schools -

• Several high schools were blocked on Tuesday in protest against the health protocol in force to curb the Covid-19 epidemic.

• 20 Minutes

  went to Colbert lycée, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, where clashes erupted between young demonstrators and the police, with dozens of verbalizations as a result.

• Students, teachers and parents of students share the same observation on the difficulty of applying distancing and barrier gestures in already crowded establishments.

  And fear a new closure of establishments if the epidemic continues to progress in the country.

“At first it was quiet, then it was a fight between the cops and the blockers.

“The day after the resumption of classes, after the All Saints holiday, the tension rose a notch in several high schools in France, such as here in Colbert, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris where Arthur * is a student in Terminale.

With his friend Daniel, they attended the blocking of the establishment from 8 am this morning, without participating.

A call for blocking had been launched the day before to denounce “student insecurity”, namely health measures deemed insufficient to deal with the coronavirus epidemic.

If this observation is shared by many students and teachers interviewed by

the blockade degenerated into clashes with the police.

A violent evacuation

In the morning, blockades took place in a dozen Parisian high schools, including Hélène-Boucher (20th arrondissement) and Sophie-Germain (4th arrondissement).

The police intervened to disperse the demonstrators.

"Gatherings on the public highway remain prohibited, it is the role of the police to ensure that these rules are respected", they justify the Prefecture of Police.

If some dispersions took place peacefully, this was not the case at Colbert high school.

The police used tear gas and charged the young demonstrators, according to many witnesses.

“There were bottles thrown at the police, but the police threw a girl to the ground,” says Coumba, still shaken by the events.

With her friend Shana, second like her, then heads for the Stalingrad metro station.

“The police fined us 135 euros for reunification.

But we had done nothing, we were not participating in the blockade, ”she protested.

86 fines imposed on the outskirts of Parisian high schools

In total, the police say they have made 86 verbalizations for "non-compliance with health rules" around high schools blocked in Paris on Tuesday morning.

Three people were arrested for "projectile throwing", while a police officer "slightly injured" was transported "to a hospital", also indicates the police.

At the origin of this high school mobilization, the health protocol in force in the establishments.

"We are piled up like sardines, at 35 in a small classroom," laments Arthur, blond ponytail and black mask.

“And the canteen, it's amazing that it stays open, it's crowded, and we eat without the masks.

The same astonishment with Shana: "We do not understand very well, we are crowded into classrooms, while we are no longer allowed to go to stores or to the movies.

"

To add to the confusion, the rules of the Vigipirate plan, raised to the “Emergency bombing” level after the Nice attack, have been added to a health protocol deemed insufficient.

“For the Covid, we have to ventilate 15 minutes every 2 hours, but with Vigipirate, we are not allowed to open the windows,” says Inès, a second student at Colbert.

Concerned teachers

Especially since the virus is circulating in the establishment, according to several students.

"There are a lot of cases of Covid-19, before the All Saints holidays, it was common for a supervisor to come back to class to tell some students to leave because they were contact cases," says Arthur.

"I live with my mother, what if I report the Covid to her from high school?"

», Worries a second year student.

Contacted this Tuesday, neither the management of the Colbert lycée nor the Paris academy informed us about the cases of coronavirus enumerated in the high schools of the capital.

Teachers are also worried about the health protocol.

“During a meeting with management, we said that being around thirty per classroom was complicated,” recounts a teacher in front of the school.

“We have the feeling that the management is bound hand and foot.

"According to this teacher, no new measures have been deployed at the school since the new confinement, except work" on the movement of people in the establishment ".

A weariness shared by other colleagues in the country: the staff of the Jacques-Brel high school in La Courneuve (Seine-Saint-Denis), for example, exercised their right of withdrawal on Tuesday "in the face of an insufficient health protocol, which puts in danger the personnel, our pupils and their families ”.

Press release from Jacques-Brel high school in La Courneuve

We are exercising our right of withdrawal when faced with an insufficient health protocol, which endangers staff, our students and their families.

pic.twitter.com/1coKHzkyJB

- Anne B. (@Babbalanja) November 3, 2020

A dilemma for high school students

Like several teachers' unions, this press release calls in particular for the reception of pupils in small groups, with a rotation system.

But this option is "not favored" by the Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer, who wants to be able to accommodate "all students throughout school time".

This weekend, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran, however, estimated that if the measures taken in recent days to fight against the epidemic did not prove "sufficiently effective", high schools could close again.

This prospect is freshly welcomed by high school students, even if they find it difficult to project themselves.

"It feels like we're never going to make it ... anyway this year is going to be a disaster for us," Shana sighs.

“Distance education was the horror,” recalls Daniel.

"Already in class I have trouble concentrating, so at home, I won't even tell you", breathes Inès.

“And then I don't have a printer at home.

"I followed the lessons on my smartphone", adds Shana, however very "mixed" on the opening of the school.

“Maybe it would be better to close, since we do not feel protected against the Covid.

"

* All first names have been changed.

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• Society

• Paris

• Covid 19

• Coronavirus

• Blockade

• High school student

• High school