They’re brilliant at many things, but you really do have to hand it to the French: they know how to protest.

In the last few weeks, the media and social media algorithms have been flooded with videos and images of young French people protesting across the country.

President Emmanuel Macron declined an offer from his interior minister to resign after protests turned to widespread riots at the weekend.

He said a distinction must be drawn between what he called “genuine, peaceful” demonstrators making demands over the cost of living and the education system, and others who “destroy, ransack and loot”.

Noel Doran: Jeffrey Donaldson’s carefully crafted Christian image was built entirely on lies

Don Mullan: It’s time to talk about King Billy’s links to the slave trade

Macron criticised what he called “factious groups from the ultra-left, joined by numerous delinquents”.

“Delinquents” is an interesting word to use, given the whole reason for the protests in the first place is about a failing education system that is leaving thousands of French young people behind.

The movement began last month in high schools in working-class northern suburbs of Paris, where students protested against teacher shortages and poor facilities. The unions then came on board.

The student demands concern conditions in France’s lycees, which educate pupils aged 15 to 18. They want smaller classes, consistent........

© The Irish News