French march against planned school reforms

Press, 26 June 1984, Page 8

French march against planned school reforms

NZPA-Reuter Paris French parents, teachers, and opposition politicians poured into the streets of Paris yesterday for a mass march against Government plans to reform the mainly Catholic private school system. Up to 500,000 people had joined the day-long event by noon, the Catholic school organisers said. They expected that more than a million participants by the end of the day would make it one of the biggest demonstrations seen in France.

Chanting “Free schools in a free country” and “Freedom, yes, monopoly, no,” crowds forming four processions converged in mostly amiable mood on the Place de la Bastille, in eastern Paris, jamming streets and blocking traffic.

The demonstration was aimed mainly against al-

ready diluted Government reforms bringing private schools, which in France are partly State-funded, into closer line with the State education system. The march, following hard on heavy losses for the Left in the European Parliament elections recently, was described by Government Ministers as motivated partly by Rightist politics. Organisers and oppposition leaders contested the assertion. “This is not a political demonstration,” said Jean-Claude Gaudin, president of the CentreRight U.D.F. party’s Parliamentary group. “It’s a demonstration of discontent with those who govern and who don’t understand what the French want.” Mr Gaudin was one of hundreds of Opposition leaders and politicians who took part in the march.

They included Jacques Chirac, head of the neoGaullist R.P.R. party, and the former President, Valery Giscard d’Estaing. The Catholic Church, which has played an important role in mass demonstrations across France against the education bill during recent months, took no official part in yesterday’s march.

The Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, and two senior bishops handed a message of support to organisers before the march started, but then left the scene.

About 4000 riot police stood by to prevent violence while several thousand more officers protected State buildings. The organisers themselves laid on about 25,000 stewards detailed to clamp down on “over-excitement” or antiGovernment slogans.