Just what do France’s angry youth want? It’s complicated

You've used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month.

Paris: Student protesters have opened a new front in their demands of the French government, just when the country is in uproar over rallies that turned into riots.

Hundreds of students blocked access to the Louvre on Monday in a bid to force the government to spend more on cultural institutions.

Tourists and other visitors paid the price, forced to shelve plans to see the Mona Lisa and other exhibits.

The protest deliberately contrasted with the violence of the past few days: the students were positive and pleasant, and they took time to talk to visitors and explain why they wanted the Louvre closed for the day. (Answer: to make a point about its need for funding). Some even danced to pop music in front of the famous pyramid at the world’s most-visited museum.

Even so, the tactic highlighted the challenge for the protest movement in breaking any association with the masked rioters who set fires on streets across France on Saturday night.

The French protests can easily look like one vast throng – a student uprising that has turned violent, drawing parallels with the movement for social change in 1968.

In fact, there are at least two and possibly three movements at work at the same time.

First are the students who want more teachers and better school facilities, starting with working toilets.

Second are the angry young rioters who want to confront the police and are propelled by issues like Gaza and a better deal for the poor, leading some of them to smash property and set fire to historic town halls.

Third are the looters who ransacked stores. While some of this group could overlap with the activists, it is now obvious that criminals took advantage of the mayhem on Saturday. Some store owners, for instance, say the thieves knew exactly what they wanted. They were organised and wanted to steal products they could sell quickly.

This means the students at the Louvre, worried as they are about cultural funding, come from a very different Paris to the rioters who smashed windows to steal flashy clothes.

The riots and looting have deepened a public debate about the demonstrations and whether students should keep holding rallies when they are, in effect, a useful backdrop for those intent on violence or theft.

One student at the Louvre barricade, Inaya Plieu, said the “breakers” who destroyed buildings had nothing to do with the students who wanted to improve education.