Heavy traffic jams caused by a spontaneous demonstration Tuesday morning in front of the eastern high school. The demands are known: abolition of the First Employment Contract and fighting against youth precarity. The “youth movement” is budding in Nice and risks spreading. Explanation of this gathering of 1000 high school students in front of the Guillaume Apollinaire establishment.
Tuesday morning, the Stop CPE 06 collective decided to filter the entrance of the eastern high school. The students accepted this barrier and gathered in front of the school. A group of 1000 youths formed. It headed towards the intersection of Boulevard Vérany and Avenue Séméria. With banners, megaphones, and the familiar chant “No No to the CPE… Yes Yes to the CDI”, the protest movement seemed organized.
Simple appearance. The collective had planned a simple filtering barrier explaining the reasons for their anger. The goal was also to promote the big demonstration next Saturday. 1000 high school students on the pavement, and the situation quickly became unmanageable. The filtering barrier turned into a total blockade. High school demonstration added to the dismantling of the Nice Fair: the result was painful for the motorists of Nice with traffic jams from Pasteur to the Prom’ and on both sides of the Paillon. Buses were stopped and formed convoys. The drivers waited patiently: “I haven’t moved an inch in thirty minutes. I must stay at the wheel of my vehicle. Whether I drive or I’m stopped, it doesn’t matter to me. Passengers are getting impatient but we can do nothing,” declared one of them.
Renaud, one of the leaders of the Stop CPE 06 Collective, explains the blockade: “The collective was overwhelmed by the students. It wasn’t planned. We need to control the students who take advantage of this to create chaos. This could harm the movement. It’s especially important for them to understand that this route must be unblocked. It leads to the hospital and then it’s the time when children leave school.” After some discussions with representatives of the collective and the police who came to secure the intersection, the students agreed to let the vehicles restart.
This episode at the Guillaume Apollinaire High School was akin to a spontaneous demonstration. It proves that the young people of Nice, lagging behind other French cities, are starting to move. Overlooking the marches of February 7 and March 7 which were national, it can be said that the anti-CPE agitation in Nice started at the Eastern High School on March 14 at 9 a.m. The movement is progressing. The large demonstration on March 18 will confirm or deny this. Response on Saturday.
