French students call fresh protests as funding demands grow

French high school and university students have been called out to protest for a second time in days, keeping pressure on the government over demands for greater education funding. The fresh mobilisation came just two days after a large turnout that signalled the depth of feeling among young people across the country.

The government moved to try to calm the situation, making a series of conciliatory gestures aimed at bringing the crisis to an end. Whether those moves will be sufficient to satisfy protesters remains to be seen, with student groups showing little sign of standing down.

The unrest has taken the familiar form of blockades and marches, tactics that reflect a long-standing French tradition of settling contentious policy disputes through street action. Analysts note that the grievances driving students to demonstrate are widely regarded as genuine, giving the movement a resilience that piecemeal official responses may struggle to overcome.