The two French politicians criticized police tactics and proposed education reforms, including scrapping Parcoursup and lowering the voting age to 16.
Former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin and lawmaker François Ruffin criticized the police response to student protests and called for “political responses” rather than “police responses.” They met students and youth-organization representatives at a Paris café on Monday, October 5, ahead of another planned phase of the protest movement.
The politicians denounced crowd-control tactics, including forceful charges and kettling. Their remarks came after a 15-year-old lost a hand when a police grenade exploded in Lens during the student mobilization.
De Villepin and Ruffin called for an end to the use of LBD rubber rounds and crowd-dispersal grenades against minors. They also proposed protecting education’s share of the state budget despite falling student numbers and launching an urgent renovation plan for school buildings.
Their other proposals include voting rights from age 16 and abolishing Parcoursup, France’s centralized university admissions platform. Ruffin said the future could not be managed by an algorithm. Ruffin has declared his intention to run for president, while de Villepin has said he wants to be a candidate.