Sixteen-year-old Lucas sat on the pavement in the Boulevard Raspail. The designer boutiques of the sixieme arrondissement looked inviting with their shattered plate glass windows. At Kenzo, across the street, a sales assistant hurriedly undressed the mannequins. "Too many cops," Lucas sighed with a nod towards the Boulevard St Germain, where hundreds of riot police faced the demonstrators.
Neighbourhoods along the itinerary of the eens' (acute 1st eee, italics) march battened down as if waiting for barbarian hordes. The Paris prefecture deployed 5,500 police for 25,000 demonstrators. Yet it was the casseurs from the immigrant suburbs who succeeded in frightening people away. In all of France, 275,000 students and teachers marched, compared to 500,000 last week.
The son of West Indian workers, Lucas admitted he came to yesterday's demonstration in the hope of looting - not because he thought the protest would improve conditions in his north Paris lycee. "We live badly," he complained. "There's no money." But he was well-dressed, I remarked, looking at his new, black leather Adidas running shoes. His trousers were Lacoste, he informed me, and his silky grey jacket from The Gap. "It's le business, le deal," he explained. "Le business" in Lucas's case means selling dope and stolen merchandise.
Water gushed from hoses into the gutter in front of us. A demonstrator had started a fire in the rue du Bac metro station, and red trucks came barrelling down the avenue. Among dozens of shattered facades were the Pronuptia bridal boutique, Le Raspail brasserie, two optometrists' shops and a Renault dealership. "C'est bien, c'est bien," a young African outside Renault laughed. "We're going to f*** the police." Throughout the two-hour march, young men played cat and mouse with security forces, emerging to throw stones at the riot police who blocked side roads, then retreating into the crowd. "It's the Gaza Strip," a French woman commented.
French officials support the lyceens' demands for more teachers and smaller classes. Of 146 youths arrested last week, all but four have been freed. More than 80 more were arrested yesterday. The Education Minister, Mr Claude Allegre said there was no point announcing his "national programme for lycees" until after the young people held their march. Polls show 88 per cent of French people support the students.
