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French student unrest gathers momentum

by Reuters
Tuesday, 4 December 2018 14:01 GMT

PARIS, Dec 4 (Reuters) - French student protests intensified on Tuesday, with various incidents around the country of demonstrators setting buildings on fire, and of violent clashes with police.

Over the course of this week, students have gradually started to get involved in the so-called "yellow vests" protests against President Emmanuel Macron.

Local authorities told Reuters that part of the Saint-Exupery high school in Blagnac, near Toulouse in southwest France, had been set on fire on Tuesday.

There were also clashes in Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux and the city of Orleans, while schools were blocked in Creteil and Versailles near Paris.

Earlier on Tuesday, France's prime minister suspended planned increases to fuel taxes for at least six months in response to weeks of sometimes violent protests, in the first major U-turn by President Emmanuel Macron's administration after 18 months in office. (Reporting by Paris Newsroom; Writing by Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by John Irish)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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