Mélenchon calls for more protests

Far-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon urged supporters to join nationwide protests on Tuesday backing students blockading high schools, despite accusations he instigated violence.

Blockades spread across France

The blockades have taken place at four hundred to five hundred high schools, Education Minister Edouard Geffray said, about ten percent of the total in France. Vandalism or arson occurred at twenty four protests last week.

Mélenchon compares movement to 1968

Mélenchon said France is witnessing the most powerful movement of high school and college students since May nineteen sixty-eight, the massive demonstrations almost sixty years ago that fundamentally reshaped French society.

“Our country is witnessing the most powerful movement of high school and college students it has seen since May 1968”

Government accuses Mélenchon of inciting unrest

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's office said the government and intelligence agencies shared the assessment that France Unbowed and its ideological allies helped foment the student protests. Mélenchon called the allegation absurd.

Mélenchon sees political opportunity

In a blog post, Mélenchon said the government's focus on France Unbowed earned the party a significant surge in popularity in high schools. A Cluster seventeen poll showed forty seven percent of respondents younger than thirty five planned to vote for him.

“It earned us a significant surge in popularity in high schools, where we were already well-received.”

Violence threatens Mélenchon's wider appeal

Images of high schools ablaze and clashes between police and protesters threaten to hurt Mélenchon's standing with the wider electorate. Seventy three percent of voters said there was little to no chance they would ever vote for him.