Protesters pushed through barricades and rushed towards the entrance of the Louvre Museum in Paris on Monday, disrupting operations at the world's largest museum amid demonstrations over education cuts, poor school conditions and police action against protesters in France.
The Louvre was unable to open at its scheduled time after demonstrators blocked its entrances, the museum told AFP on October 19.
The protest was led largely by students from the Ecole du Louvre, an institution specialising in art and culture located within the museum. They joined a wider movement supporting high school students who have been protesting for more than a month over poor educational conditions and government austerity measures affecting education funding.
Carrying placards and banners, the protesters blocked the museum's main entrances to express solidarity with students who have taken to the streets instead of attending classes. They also condemned the police crackdown on demonstrations.
Outside the museum, protesters put up flyers carrying the message, “We are proud to announce that we are blockading the world's largest museum.”
The action disrupted access to one of Paris's major tourist attractions, bringing the education protests into a prominent cultural landmark in the French capital.
The demonstration came after large-scale protests across downtown Paris over the weekend, as anger over education conditions, budget cuts and police action continued to fuel unrest.
The Louvre disruption followed violent protests reported in several parts of France on October 17.
Police detained around 2,300 people during the unrest, while more than 2,000 shops reportedly suffered damage due to looting and arson by protesters.
The demonstrations have centred on demands for improvements to poor educational conditions, alongside opposition to government austerity measures that have cut education funding.
The Louvre protest reflected the growing reach of the movement, with students from an art and culture institution joining high school students in challenging the government's education policies and the police response to demonstrations.
