PARIS — French far-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Sunday celebrated high school students whose protest movement has shaken France as he called at a campaign rally for lowering the voting age to 16 and an end to selective admission to universities.
The fiery anti-capitalist Mélenchon also took aim at U.S. President Donald Trump, NATO and the global financial system, in a sweeping speech to thousands of supporters meant to kick his campaign into high gear for next year's two-round election in April and May.
Also Sunday, France's Socialist and allied voters chose European Parliament lawmaker Raphaël Glucksmann as their presidential candidate in a primary election marred by a cyberattack and divisions within the mainstream left.
President Emmanuel Macron is finishing his second term and cannot run again, so next year’s election will be a turning point for France and Europe. France is the EU’s only nuclear power, its second-biggest economy and a linchpin of the shared euro currency zone.
At this stage, polls suggest that Mélenchon and center-right candidate Edouard Philippe are behind far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, but ahead of a range of other hopefuls. It remains to be seen if they will maintain their current level of support.
The nationwide high school protest movement — over deteriorating school buildings, teacher shortages, and inequalities hurting schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods — has energized young voters, who may prove key to the election outcome.
The movement has at times turned violent, and police have made more than 6,600 arrests. Hundreds have been injured, including students, teachers and police.
Mélenchon’s critics say he and his France Unbowed party are fueling the fire for electoral gain; Mélenchon says his party isn’t organizing the movement and wants it to be peaceful.
The party invited student protesters to the stage at Sunday's rally in the southern city of Clermont-Ferrand, and Mélenchon said their protest movement shows ‘’a high level of political and union maturity.''
Many protesters are under 18, and Mélenchon — who is 75 and on his fourth presidential run — nodded to that future electorate by proposing to lower the voting age to 16.
He denounced the national university admissions platform that has frustrated student protesters, saying selective admissions should be scrapped and knowledge shouldn't be turned into ‘’merchandise.''
More protests are planned Tuesday and next Saturday.
The school protests have pushed the government to order urgent hires of substitute teachers and rearrange school schedules to address grievances. Students at the barricades say that’s not enough, but the movement has shown young people the power they can wield, and Mélenchon is hoping it translates into higher youth turnout at the ballot box.
This movement is ‘’marking their entry into politics,'' high school librarian Dounia Georgeon told The Associated Press at a protest this week at her school in eastern Paris. The muscular police reaction is likely to have lasting impact on the students and their politics, she said.
Mélenchon also reached out Sunday to older voters, calling for lowering the retirement age to 60 from 62. And he reiterated his push to cancel France's staggering debt.
He called Trump an ‘’adversary'' because of his tariffs, and said France should lead a more independent foreign policy.
‘’We're not preparing our children and grandchildren to die for some hazardous operation concocted by NATO,'' he said. His campaign platform says NATO membership is ’’against France’s interests,'' calls for better dialogue with Russia, and does not mention Ukraine.
Also this weekend, Philippe and centrist candidate Gabriel Attal, both former prime ministers appointed by the unpopular Macron, held rallies.
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