Investigators trying to discover identities of men who violently broke up a Montpellier sit-in

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Protests over Emmanuel Macron’s university reforms threaten to spread to faculties across France after outrage following the violent breakup of a student sit-in in Montpellier by masked men with bats and sticks.

Around 50 students had been staging a lecture hall sit-in at the southern French university on Thursday to protest against the French president’s tightening of university entrance requirements when a group of men in black, many of them wearing balaclavas and masks, began beating the protesters and forcing them out.

Video footage showed students screaming as masked men hit students with bits of wood. “They began hitting people,” said one student, who claimed the men also had stunguns.

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Several students lodged complaints to police. A legal investigation into “armed group violence” has been opened by the local prosecutor to determine the identities of the men. The French universities minister has demanded an inquiry and Montpellier University has opened its own investigation.



Students in Lille called for a nationwide demonstration on Wednesday against Macron’s university reforms and what they called the heavy-handed treatment of student demonstrators.

The Montpellier law and political sciences faculty remained closed on Monday, as student both for and against sit-in protests demonstrated outside.

The law faculty dean, Philippe Pétel, at first told French media that he was in support of the lecture hall being evacuated. But he swiftly resigned last week.

Philippe Augé, the Montpellier university head, told local radio the masked assault was “indescribable”, “shocking” and “showed an extreme violence.” He said he wanted to secure and reopen the university as soon as possible.

Macron’s government has argued changes to university entrance procedure are essential. Every student in France who passes the baccalaureate high-school exam has the right to go to university in their home area, which has led to popular subjects such as law and psychology being heavily oversubscribed and prompted the introduction of an unpopular lottery system where demand is highest.

Under Macron’s plans, the lottery system would be wound down and the hardest-pressed universities would be allowed to select students on merit.

The government argued that a lack of specialisation at high school and the inability to select students had lead to a high university dropout rate. Around 60% of students in France do not finish their first year of university.

The new law stops short of blanket selection, but some students argue it threatens France’s tradition of university education for all.

Tension spilled on to the streets of Montpellier at the weekend as around 30 far-right demonstrators from the Ligue de Midi wearing red, white and blue masks engaged in a standoff with around 200 anti-fascist protesters.

The anti-facist demonstrators included students who said far-right extremists were among the masked men who broke up the sit-in. Police struggled to keep the two groups apart amid stone-throwing and shouting.