Articles

Why did French students riot in 1968?

Why did French students riot in 1968?

The unrest began with a series of student occupation protests against capitalism, consumerism, American imperialism and traditional institutions. The student occupations and general strikes initiated across France were met with forceful confrontation by university administrators and police.

What caused 1968 protests?

Background. Multiple factors created the protests in 1968. Many were in response to perceived injustice by governments—in the USA, against the Johnson administration—and were in opposition to the draft, and the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War.

What was going on in France in 1960?

In 1960, France became the fourth state to acquire a nuclear arsenal, detonating an atomic bomb in the Algerian desert (a secret clause of the 1962 Évian Accords with the Algerian National Liberation Front stated that “Algeria concede… to France the use of certain air bases, terrains, sites and military installations …

How did the student riots of May 1968 affect France?

In response, on 6 May the national students’ union and the union of university teachers organised a protest march. It was one of the key events of the month. The head of the Paris police was obsessed by the need to protect the Sorbonne and its surroundings from a massive invasion by the students. He placed 1,500 officers in defence.

Why was there a protest in Paris in 1967?

In 1967, students at the Nanterre campus of the University of Paris had staged protests against restrictions on dormitory visits that prevented male and female students from sleeping with each other.

How many people went on strike in France in 1968?

Fifty years ago today the streets of Paris staged a battle between 6,000 student demonstrators and 1,500 gendarmes – within days it had snowballed into civil dispute that saw 10 million French workers go on general strike and brought the economy to a virtual halt. Andreas Whittam Smith recalls the events of ‘Mai 68’

Who was the French student leader in 1968?

This was an unprecedented and intoxicating freedom. As the French student leader Dany Cohn-Bendit told the Paris demonstrators in May 1968: “There are no marshals and leaders today. Nobody is responsible for you. You are responsible for yourselves.”