00:00Police used tear gas to disperse student protesters in Paris on Thursday.
00:06According to the Associated Press, a barricade burned in front of the Voltaire High School.
00:11while students blocked the main entrance to demand more resources for French schools.
00:18Several barricades were erected in the street in front of the center, and flames and smoke were coming out of one of them.
00:24The demonstration was part of a broader student movement
00:28which calls for increased funding for educational institutions throughout France.
00:32Authorities reported many dozens of injuries, some from thrown objects.
00:37and, in certain alleged cases, by police riot control projectiles.
00:42Similar scenes were reported in Lille,
00:44where protesters set fire to garbage containers and electric bicycles on Wednesday,
00:50during the fourth consecutive day of protests.
00:52The protests are quickly becoming a hot topic in the election campaign.
00:57to succeed President Emmanuel Macron next May,
01:01who is constitutionally barred from running for a third consecutive term.
01:06And they increase the pressure on the government, which is also dealing with France's growing financial problems.
01:12The presidential candidate of the radical left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon,
01:17He has denounced the government's response to the protests as repressive.
01:20His detractors accuse Mélenchon's party of trying to exploit the riots
01:25to gain points in the presidential campaign and to incite violence.
01:29The office of the Prime Minister, Sebastián Lecornu,
01:32He indicated that he asked the ministers to cancel any official trips planned for the coming days,
01:38so that the authorities and the police can focus on managing the demonstrations.
02:15The office of the Prime Minister, Sebastián Lecornu,
02:28The office of the Prime Minister, Sebastián Lecornu,
