Omar Sy backs French school protests ahead of Lupin return

Omar Sy has voiced support for high school protests sweeping France and condemned the crackdown on them.

The actor spoke in France while promoting the next series of his Netflix drama Lupin. His intervention comes as the movement builds toward a major countrywide mobilisation this Saturday.

In a France Inter interview on Wednesday, Sy called the student movement "a small beacon of light", according to Deadline. He said the immediate reflex had been to silence the pupils, lash out at them, or pit them against each other. He described that response as pathetic. "Where are the adults in charge?" he asked.

The protests have been building since late September. They were sparked by complaints of staff shortages and dilapidated schools. What began with high school pupils has widened. Teachers, higher-education students and trade unions have now joined the action.

The police response has been heavy. More than 6,000 young people have been taken into temporary police custody, meaning detention by police for questioning, Deadline reported. One teenager lost a hand amid the crackdown. Sy decried what he characterised as an authoritarian response to largely teenage demonstrators.

Organisers expect more than half a million people to take to the streets on Saturday. Supporters of the yellow vest movement are expected to join them. The turnout would mark a sharp escalation after weeks of school blockades and street marches.

Sy was doing media rounds in France ahead of the 23 October launch of the fourth series of Lupin, the Netflix hit in which he plays gentleman thief Assane Diop. He broke out internationally with his role in the 2011 comedy-drama The Intouchables. He has lived in the US with his family for the last 14 years.

For viewers, this means the face of one of Netflix's biggest non-English-language series is now publicly aligned with the students. For the crew behind that show, the launch will play out in a tense national moment.