Éléonore Caroit links French unrest to rising costs as students press school demands

French minister Éléonore Caroit said on October 9 that high energy costs and difficulty paying bills were feeding a ‘climate of discontent’ amid student-led protests across France. Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland in Dublin, she offered the government’s assessment as students continued to demand better conditions in schools and challenge police conduct.

Caroit, France’s minister delegate for Francophonie, international partnerships and French nationals abroad, said the government wanted to respond to students’ demands ‘when they are legitimate’. She described the situation as calming, although student and university groups have called for another day of protest on October 13, according to Le Monde.

What French students are demanding

The protests began in late September with calls for increased education funding, the Associated Press reported, citing the Interior Ministry. Students have raised concerns about deteriorating school facilities and insufficient staff. AP said most of the students involved were under 18 and that unions and political groups had also joined the demonstrations.

Le Monde reported that tens of thousands gathered across France on October 8 to demand better learning conditions and protest against the far right and police violence. It counted 55,000 young people protesting outside schools, some of whom joined larger gatherings. Those reported demands give a more specific account of the movement than Caroit’s wider explanation of public frustration with living costs.

Arrests and the government’s response

More than 6,600 people had been arrested since the protests began in late September, AP reported, citing the Interior Ministry. The figure is a ministry count reported by the news agency; the available material does not include a separate arrest dataset. AP also reported that police used tear gas on October 8 to clear an area around a barricaded high school in northeastern Paris.

Caroit told RTÉ that the government was investigating actions and allegations arising from the protests. She said police had been instructed to use only proportionate measures to preserve public order. Her account states the government’s position; it does not provide findings from the investigation or resolve allegations about police conduct.

The unrest has also disrupted schools. Le Monde reported serious incidents in several cities, including a fire that spread to a teacher’s car in Poitiers and injuries to school staff in Bayonne, Toulouse and Saint-Chamond. AP quoted Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu describing attacks on students, staff and police, school fires, vandalism and lost class time. Those descriptions of attacks on students are attributed to the prime minister; the available reporting does not establish the ages or circumstances of individual victims.

AP described disturbances involving people outside the movement’s stated aims. That distinction matters when assessing incidents around demonstrations: reports of violence and damage do not, by themselves, establish that they represent the demands of the students protesting school conditions.

Costs, politics and the next protest call

Asked about diesel prices, Caroit said France was pursuing diplomatic efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. She said the government was providing targeted help with costs rather than general assistance because of the effect broader measures had had on a previous budget. These were the measures and reasons she set out in the RTÉ interview; no further policy decision or timetable is established in the available reporting.

Caroit also criticised the National Rally’s economic claims and argued that stopping immigration would leave hospitals, schools and care for older people short of workers. Those were political arguments made by the minister, separate from the students’ reported calls for education funding, better facilities and sufficient staff.

Student and university groups have called the proposed October 13 protest day ‘Act V’, Le Monde reported. Whether it goes ahead, what participation it draws and how the government responds remain open. Caroit’s statement that conditions were calming and the groups’ call for further protests describe different assessments of where the unrest stands.