As many as 50,000 French students held a militant demonstration in the streets of Paris on April 17 to oppose the announcement of massive job cuts in education.
The student demonstration was the seventh in the past three weeks, coming just two days after tens of thousands of students marched in Paris. Police have used tear gas to break up the demonstrations and have arrested at least six protesters.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced plans to cut 11,200 jobs from the national education system during the next school year, of which 8,800 cuts will directly affect junior high and high schools.
Students are concerned that the cuts will lead to overcrowding in schools and a drastic decrease in subjects that teachers will be able to teach. Organizers say the demonstrations will continue and will grow in size until the French government listens to them.
