S'porean man, 64, gets tear-gassed in France during student protests

A Singaporean man travelled to France with his family for a holiday — and stumbled upon a large student protest.

He subsequently got tear-gassed.

According to Shin Min Daily News (Shin Min), Ji Hongwen (transliteration), 64, was holidaying in Lyon with his wife and sister-in-law when they encountered the demonstrations.

The protest he encountered was part of a larger series of student demonstrations that has engulfed the whole of France recently, beginning in a high school in the suburb of Paris, but quickly spreading nationwide.

"A war zone"

Ji told Shin Min that his family had just finished strolling around a morning market and were having lunch when they heard a commotion from a distance.

Curious, he walked over, only to find that it was a student protest march.

Protestors and armoured police stood on opposite ends of the street, with the crowd throwing rocks and various objects at the police.

He said the demonstrators "burned garbage cans and other items along the street", with the whole street "fiercely ablaze".

The police were fully armed and fired tear gas at the protestors, causing them to scatter and flee.

According to Ji, the sound of gunshots from the tear gas was "incessant", and it was like a "war zone".

Tear-gassed

A tear gas canister then landed right next to him, causing him to tear up uncontrollably.

Ji ran with the students into the nearby alleys.

After about two minutes, his eyes began to recover.

He added that the student protestors were coordinated in their approach.

When a protestor was hit by tear gas, the other students would run up to them to provide eye drops.

Trip unaffected

Ji clarified that clashes were limited to specific parts of the city and public transport services were generally unaffected.

Afterwards, his group continued travelling as planned.

But it was memorable.

He said: "There was even a reporter next to me filming and documenting everything, it was really a unique travel experience!"

Tensions boiled over

According to France 24, the protests have been carried out and centre around French high school students.

The protests originated from a teachers' strike on Sep. 17 in a lycée in Créteil, a suburb of Paris.

A lycée is the French equivalent of a high school, preparing students for the baccalauréat national exam.

The Créteil teachers' strike soon found students joining them in solidarity, blockading the entrance of the school.

Soon after, similar demonstrations erupted in other high schools around France over common woes that are perceived to stem from a lack of resources afforded to education by the government.

Such problems include acute staff shortages, dilapidated school buildings, poor conditions during the recent French heatwaves, long school hours, and a university admissions system seen as opaque and unfair.

Reports indicated that 250,000 people have taken to the streets, with about 6,000 arrests made.

A 15-year-old teenager's hand was blown off after he picked up a grenade intended to be non-lethal.