France student protests expose Macron's debt crisis and school failures

Student protests over crumbling schools despite billions in public spending are fueling a broader crisis in France, and experts warn that the country's mounting financial troubles, President Emmanuel Macron's weakened political center and radical movements are pushing the unrest far beyond its original educational grievances. Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies' senior envoy for Europe, told Fox News Digital in an interview from Paris that what began in September with legitimate complaints about school conditions has increasingly been exploited by political forces seeking confrontation with the state. "Overall, I'd say the anger is real, but the violence, I would say, is organized," she said, adding that destroying schools would do nothing to improve the education system.