Paris, France – After nationwide protests turned violent, French President Emmanuel Macron used a televised address on Sunday night to acknowledge the concerns of students demanding changes to the education system while condemning rioters. He said those who had damaged property must pay, that looters must repay their victims, and that people who sought to bring down the republic would be held accountable.
For some young people, the speech fell short. Yanis, a 20-year-old from Ivry-sur-Seine, a suburb southeast of Paris, said the president had offered his usual rhetoric without committing to anything concrete. He said protests would continue every weekend until something changed.
Students push for education reform as anger spreads
Students launched their protest in mid-September, calling for better schools, more teachers and a fairer system. The movement quickly moved beyond school grounds and onto the streets, picking up wider social and economic frustrations.
As the unrest unfolded, the country’s youth appeared to be losing patience with centrist politics of the kind Macron represents, according to the report. The protests have pushed these issues into the middle of the national debate, something analysts say might not otherwise have happened. They argue that young people take part in elections at comparatively low rates, and that campaigns often focus on older voters and issues such as pensions.
Political analyst Beligh Nabli, a professor of public law at UPEC-Paris XII, said the movement had changed the political climate. “If it wasn’t for this mobilisation, it would have been business as usual,” he said. He added that candidates would have shown relative indifference towards young people, who are less likely than those over 60 to mobilise in elections.
Parties compete for young voters before 2027 election
The unrest comes months before France’s 2027 presidential election and has sharpened existing divisions. Parties are trying to present themselves as the answer to the frustration seen on the streets, although there is little agreement on what change should look like.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the populist left, has embraced the student movement enthusiastically. His France Unbowed party, known as La France Insoumise, has backed the protesters strongly, and critics have accused it of fuelling youth resentment and exploiting the unrest for political gain. Its programme, however, addresses several of the movement’s core grievances, including education investment, teachers’ pay and the abolition of Parcoursup, an online platform used for higher education applications that many say lacks transparency.
Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader, has focused instead on the disorder, framing it as a crisis of security and authority. Centrist Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has accused the extreme left of instigating violence, describing it as a “warm-up round” for the presidential race. Polling points to a contest in which both the far left and the far right could play a central role.
An OpinionWay poll for Les Echos, published on Thursday, found that Melenchon leads among voters aged 18 to 24, with 49 percent backing him. That is a 10-percentage-point rise compared with 2022. Le Pen remains the leading contender in the presidential race with 32 percent of the vote, while her National Rally ranked second among the same age group, behind France Unbowed.
Some young protesters say backing Melenchon is a way of opposing the far right while rejecting the centre. Lydia, 21, a student at the Ecole du Louvre who joined a protest at the museum on Monday, said she would vote for La France Insoumise to counter the National Rally and the centre, which she said would likely repeat Macron’s policies. She also said she had no illusions that the party would solve France’s problems, and she criticised what she sees as the demonisation of LFI, arguing that moderately left-wing positions are increasingly labelled extreme.
Macron’s centrists face shrinking support and tight budgets
Macron, who has served two terms, cannot stand again because the constitution bars him from running, and he will have to step aside after the election. His centrist bloc now faces pressure from both sides. Le Pen has described the unrest as a threat to democracy, saying France was held hostage between violence and powerlessness.
Macron’s presidency began during the Yellow Vest protests, which were initially triggered by a rise in fuel taxes and later grew into a broader revolt over the cost of living and what demonstrators saw as favouritism towards the elite. Analysts note that the next government will have far less room to calm unrest with spending. Last year the government recorded a deficit of 5.1 percent of gross domestic product, one of the highest among European countries, compared with an EU average of 3.1 percent.
The president’s popularity stands at 15 percent, the lowest of his time in office. In his Sunday address, he blamed “insurrectionists from fringe far-left groups, joined by numerous criminals” for the violence, and he spoke only briefly about the students’ demands. He offered no specific new policy measures. Instead, he asked Lecornu to bring together students, teachers, unions and elected officials to develop proposals in the coming days, and promised a tougher response to violence.
The unrest gives Macron’s opponents an opening to argue that his presidency has not tackled deep-rooted inequalities. With the election approaching, all sides of the political spectrum are expected to compete for the support of a generation that feels let down by the state and increasingly distant from the political establishment.
