Paris (France) (AFP) – Determined to "not give up" in the face of government announcements deemed insufficient, youth organizations are calling for massive blockades of colleges and high schools on Tuesday, before joining Thursday's national inter-professional mobilization on purchasing power.

Published on: 03/11/2026 - 02:27

“The movement does not stop: students continue to want to mobilize,” Suzanne Nijdam, president of Fage, the first student organization, told AFP.

“We must continue to show, particularly at Matignon, that the universities are still mobilized, that it will not stop so easily, and that we must now respond with something concrete,” she adds.

Monday, upon returning from the All Saints' Day holidays, around 15% of higher education establishments again experienced "disruptions", which varied, according to the government.

As for high schools, the mobilization also remains relevant with the return on Monday of charred trash cans and blockages in front of several establishments.

“We voted for a black week” and “we will be at the demonstration on the 5th (November), we are going to organize a high school procession,” Natie, a junior at the Rive Gauche high school in Toulouse, explained to AFP. In his establishment, around a hundred young people plan to organize a blockade all this week.

According to the Ministry of Education, 41 establishments were blocked on Monday (out of 3,700). The High School Union (USL) identified approximately four times as many.

The figure looks set to be higher on Tuesday, the first day having been more, in high schools as well as in universities, devoted to organizing the continuation of the movement.

Tuesday, "we are starting again head-on in the mobilization", underlines to AFP Manon Moret, general secretary of Unef, who hopes that "it will last" until Thursday, the day when all private and public employees are called to the demonstration and to the strike at the call of almost all the unions. “We hope it will be massive,” she said.

After more than a month of blockade, the government announced a series of measures last week to try to extinguish the anger of young people. Among them, the gradual replacement by 2028 of Parcoursup, which crystallizes a large part of the demands.

- Uncertainties on the route -

The Ministers of Education and Higher Education also promised the cancellation of planned job cuts in National Education, the creation of 500 additional positions, a capping of 28 students per second year class and 15,000 additional places in higher education.

According to Matignon, the Prime Minister also asked the Minister of National Education to ensure that a response is provided to the 200 high schools in greatest difficulty listed on the consultation platform. A “first step” deemed insufficient by youth organizations.

Other measures "require in-depth work between now and the end of December", argued the Minister of Education on Monday, citing the project of continuous monitoring or that of school time.

The inter-union group bringing together the USL, Unef, Fage and the Student Union is, for its part, demanding an investment of 10 billion euros in education and higher education as well as the pure and simple repeal of Parcoursup.

High school students and students plan to join Thursday in the day of mobilization for purchasing power which, for the first time since the start of the school year, will bring together private sector employees, civil servants and retirees.

The Paris route of this demonstration, also supported by yellow vests, has not yet been validated by the authorities.

“It’s not serious to work in these conditions,” denounced the general secretary of the CGT, Sophie Binet, on Monday. “We need to have the routes in advance to be able to secure them, particularly with Paris town hall.”

Since the riots and looting of October 17, the police headquarters have refused demonstrators to wander over the last two Saturdays in the heart of the capital, only authorizing alternative routes on the edge of the city.

The Interfac Île-de-France collective, which wanted to demonstrate on Tuesday between the Pantheon and the Medef headquarters, was also vetoed by the prefecture and proposed a route on the outskirts, which it intends to challenge in court.

may-bur/alu/cbn

© 2026 AFP

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.