DOMINANT ANGLE
Brussels sees the French high school movement as a reflection of a suffering youth and school system, while watching for contagion in its own schools in Liège.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Odoxa survey for Le Figaro and Backbone published on October 1: 62% of people consider the high school mobilization "justified", but condemn the violence.
- 02
Nearly a thousand actions recorded on October 1 in France, and nearly 400 establishments remain closed, according to La Libre Belgique.
- 03
The movement is expanding beyond the province of Liège (Herstal, Waremme, Grâce-Hollogne) and calls are circulating for Namur, Visé, and Brussels, according to Logan Verhoeven of the CEF.
ANALYSIS
Brussels, October 3, 2026. The French-speaking Belgian press is treating the French high school movement more as a reflection of youth and school than as a government crisis, with an added effect of contagion at home. La Libre Belgique cites a survey by Odoxa for Le Figaro and Backbone, published on October 1: 62% of French people consider the mobilization of high school students "justified", while condemning violence and excesses. Support is majority in all age groups and in almost all political families; only supporters of Les Républicains are in the minority, at 41%.
The daily newspaper relays the analysis of researcher Paolo Stuppia (CESSP): "A majority of French people can identify with this schooled youth: they can tell themselves that these are potentially their children." The blockages have been multiplying since September 21 against the degradation of learning conditions: dilapidated buildings, unreplaced teachers, overcrowded classes, pressure from Parcoursup. Nearly a thousand actions were recorded on October 1, with many arrests and several hundred injured among the police; nearly 400 establishments remain closed. The title makes popular support "the government's nightmare", in a context of distrust towards the executive.
La Dernière Heure is looking more towards Belgium. The spontaneous student strike movements are being emulated beyond the province of Liège: gathering in front of the Athénée Royal Liège Atlas, extension to Herstal, Waremme and Grâce-Hollogne. The newspaper reports "a few arrests and some damage", police being stoned, and calls to block schools in Huy that are circulating on TikTok, without knowing if it's "serious, humorous or unconscious".
Logan Verhoeven, president of the Comité des élèves francophones (CEF), explains that "everything was done via Snapchat and Instagram" and that calls for mobilization in Namur, Visé and Brussels are circulating for next week. The CEF recommends that the authorities accommodate these mobilizations, which it considers "essentially peaceful", and sees in the movement a warning signal to be taken seriously. The free and communal schools in Liège had decided to keep their doors closed on Friday, without curbing the determination of some students.
