Brief reports of the road and rail blockades across the country last Thursday 28 March, and updates on the mushrooming high school occupations as 62% declare solidarity with the anti-CPE movement.
Charlemagne High School, Paris, occupied 28 March
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62% of French 'united', or 'in solidarity' with the anti-CPE movement (LCI poll)
Groups of a hundred in moving blockades, Lille
In Lille, several groups of a hundred very mobile students blocked crossroads in periphery and also in the center of the city, before being driven out of it without incidents by the police force. "They play cat and mouse", a police officer commented.
Boulevard Peripherique blocked in Paris
About fifty high-school pupils blocked the Boulevard Peripherique at the end of this morning "in a spontaneous way", causing serious congestions and disturbances. Elsewhere in the Ile-de-France, 300 to 400 high-school pupils blocked the Francilienne, an outer ring road, in the Essonne area.
Aix-en-Provence paralysed
Circulation was disturbed by students protesting against the CPE on Thursday morning around Aix-en-Provence because of stoppings on certain accesses to the motorways and in the downtown area. "The exit from Aix downtown area on the A51 motorway is blocked and two accesses to the A8 motorway, also at street level in the town of Aix-en-Provence, are blocked by stoppings of students", according to the Regional Center of Information and Road Coordination (CRICR).
Railways occupied near Montpellier
A hundred students and high-school pupils carried out a sit-in on a railway with Baillargues, close to Montpellier Thursday morning. According to SNCF (rail authorities), the operation which proceeded from 8H45 to 9H30, blocked the circulation of eleven trains, causing delays of one hour maximum.
700 Occupy Roanne train station
The 700 high-school pupils and students who had 'invaded' the station of Roanne Thursday morning left the rails at the end of the morning, whereas two colleges of the city were blocked without the police force not receiving the order to intervene.
Railways and roads blocked near Rennes
Close to Rennes, the invasion of railways caused the interruption of railway circulation on the lines Rennes-Saint-Malo and Rennes-Brest, indicated the SNCF. Ten trains had a delay of 30 minutes to 1 hour. The traffic could begin again little after 08 hours.
In Rennes itself, two stoppings of assembled students on the by-pass disturbed circulation in middle of morning. One had been in place since 8.30am, blocking the four ways coming from Saint-Malo. The other set up towards 9.30am prevented motorists coming from Paris to enter Rennes.
Marseille central train station blocked
Approximately 200 students and high-school pupils invaded the railways in the station of Marseilles-Saint-Charles this morning at around 10am, blocking the departure of all the trains. The students spread themselves over all the width of the lines. They carried a banner claiming "more means for the ZEP" (priority zones of education).
Hundreds block bridges near Nantes
Hundreds of students blocked this morning the principal bridges crossing the Loire near Nantes, causing miles of congestion. Circulation, strongly disturbed at the same time in both centre town and on the periphery, returned to normal in middle of morning.
Roads blocked in Limoges
In Limoges, where the university Vice-Chancellorship was invaded by demonstrators, a group blocked a crossroads on the edges of Vienne. Their action prohibits the entry in the city for the motorists coming off the A20. The entry to Limoges in the direction Paris-province is stopped and circulation is strongly blocked on the motorway.
Students carry out free toll near Montpellier
Students carried out an operation free toll on the A9 motorway with height of the toll of Gallargues, close to Montpellier Thursday morning.
Roads blocked in Angers
In Angers, the students blocked the RN 23 for two hours, disturbing circulation in the north of the city.
Road blockades in Dunkirk and Picardie
In Dunkirk, groups of high-school pupils and students blocked accesses to the centre, which involved "large difficulties" of circulation, according to (traffic authorities) CRICR, which also noted disturbances on A25 and A16. In Picardy, a hundred students drew up a filter stopping on A29 at the toll of Dury, 3 km south-west of Amiens.
A third of Parisian high schools blocked
36 of 110 high schools in Paris are said to be blocked this morning (see picture of Charlemagne High School, above), according to the Ministry for Education, 556 high schools (of 4300) and 58 universities (of 84) are disturbed this Thursday. In Montreil, in the Parisian banlieue departement of Seine-Saint-Denis, two the entrances to two high schools, Concorcet and Jean-Jaures, were completely blocked by students. Police did not intervene.
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