France rocked by student protests

Charlotte Gallagher (0:00)

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Charlotte Gallagher, and in the early hours of Friday, the 2nd of October, these are our main stories. French police have arrested almost 2000 people during violent student protests that have spread across the country. The family of Renee Good, who was shot by a US immigration agent in Minneapolis, is suing the Trump administration. The American death row inmate, Christa Pike, is reported to be receiving life-saving medical care after surviving a botched execution.

Also in this podcast, Vladimir Putin repeats his warning that Russia is prepared to use nuclear weapons if it finds itself at war with Europe, and…

Alex Beistrom (0:50)

I'm glad that our show sort of helped him stay calm and if anything, not make the situation worse. Delighted that we played a very, very small role in this event.

Charlotte Gallagher (1:02)

The makers of an air disaster TV show respond after a fly-du-by passenger said the programme taught him how to stop the plane from crashing.

For more than a week now, pupils across France have been protesting outside secondary schools about an education system they say is failing them.

They are frustrated about a shortage of teachers, overcrowded classrooms and run-down buildings. But on Thursday, demonstrations took a more violent turn, with clashes between police and protesters at schools across the country. Almost 2,000 people were arrested and 300 police officers injured. At least two high schools were set on fire, and one reported that a head teacher was doused in petrol. The government has accused hard left politicians of encouraging the unrest to create tension ahead of next year's presidential elections. But students see it very differently.

SPEAKER_3 (2:09)

The buildings are like falling apart. There's no nurse. There's no teacher. We need money. This is also with the rise of the far right and the election, which are coming soon.

And if we cannot vote, the only way to make everybody hear us is to do this.

Charlotte Gallagher (2:30)

We heard more about how the demonstrations have escalated from Lisa Louis, a freelance journalist in Paris.

Lisa Louis (2:36)

They started off as mostly very peaceful protests.

And then police were deployed and then clashes happened across France. Hundreds of schools are now hit by these blockades or demonstrations. And then the protests would get quite violent in certain areas.

I was at one school where there's a blockade going on just north of Paris, in Agnès-sur-Seine, a secondary school. And the pupils there were telling me that they were sitting basically peacefully in front of their school. And then the police arrived and used tear gas and arrested one pupil there. So, you know, it's very difficult to figure out what happened exactly where. But it seems like clashes are now multiplying. When you look at the pictures that are being broadcast on TV here in France today, there's lots of fire, you know, burning waste bins across France, clashes between protesters and the police. And the protests really seem to get more violent. A far left party, France Unbowed, under Jean-Luc Mélenchon, they've been showing pictures of themselves with the students in front of the secondary school saying basically they need to defend and fight for their rights and the police should be non-violence towards them. And then we heard also Balibaga Ayyoko, who's the mayor of Saint-Denis, one of the Paris suburbs. He was saying basically, in certain cases, non-violence was justified. And that really caused an uproar throughout the political class. Other politicians then came out and said no, violence is not justified in any case. And LFE, the France Unbowed Party had to backpedal.

Charlotte Gallagher (4:28)

Lisa Lurie in Paris. When Renee Good was killed in January by an ICE agent in the city of Minneapolis, it sparked protests across the United States. A video showed the officer firing several shots into her car, an action the agency later claimed was in self-defense. It led to calls for the Trump administration to rein in ICE agents deployed in cities around the country. Now Renee Good's family are launching legal proceedings against the government and the agent responsible for her death. The family's lawyer told a news conference, our government has become a grave and mortal threat to its own citizens.

Renee Good's brother, Brent Ganger, spoke to journalists.

Brent Ganger (5:10)

What happened to Renee was completely senseless. And the fact that there's been no accountability, no investigation, no expression of condolence, no change in policy is completely mind-blowing. What happened to America?

Something must change now.

Charlotte Gallagher (5:27)

Our correspondent, Tom Bateman, has been telling us more.

Tom Bateman (5:31)

These are civil lawsuits that have been brought by the family of Renee Good. These are civil cases, so they're not criminal cases.