Students from a museum-based arts school join weeks-long demonstrations

Visitors wait outside the Louvre's main entrance Monday after protesters blocked access to the museum. [EPA]
Visitors wait outside the Louvre's main entrance Monday after protesters blocked access to the museum. [EPA]

Large-scale protests that swept through Paris over the weekend disrupted operations at the Louvre, one of the world's most visited museums.

The Louvre told AFP on Monday (local time) that demonstrators had blocked its entrances, preventing the museum from opening as scheduled.

The blockade was led by students from the École du Louvre, a fine arts and cultural studies institution housed within the museum complex. The students acted in solidarity with a high school student movement that has been ongoing for more than a month, demanding improvements to deteriorating educational conditions, and to protest what they described as heavy-handed police crackdowns.

Carrying placards and banners, the students formed a human chain across the Louvre's main entrance in a show of support for the high schoolers who have taken to the streets instead of attending class. They also hung flyers on the museum's exterior protesting government austerity cuts to the education budget, with one reading: "We are proud to announce that we are blockading the world's largest museum."

Meanwhile, violent protests that swept across France on Friday left more than 2,300 people detained by police, with over 2,000 businesses damaged by looting and arson.

Countries around the world have been issuing travel advisories for France as the unrest intensifies. South Korea's embassy in France issued a safety notice Friday urging Korean nationals to avoid areas near protest sites. "If you unavoidably pass through a demonstration area, leave the scene as quickly as possible and take every precaution to avoid harm," the notice said.


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