Oscar-winning Greek director Costa-Gavras says the student protests currently shaking France go deeper than May 1968, a ...

Oscar-winning Greek director Costa-Gavras says the student protests currently shaking France go deeper than May 1968, a movement he lived through firsthand. Speaking to iefimerida from Paris, the 93-year-old filmmaker said he has never witnessed anything like what is unfolding in French streets right now. Hundreds of thousands of young people have taken to the streets in Paris and other French cities, with education as the initial spark. Costa-Gavras described school conditions as being at their worst in any era, saying the disappointment students feel in the classroom is the foundation of what has ignited outside it. The conversation started at his own Sunday dinner table, where two of his grandchildren, both students in Paris, were talking about the unrest. He said this generation is reacting to something bigger than curriculum, pointing to the wars they see playing out around them and the growing power of the ultra-wealthy, who he described as pursuing their own agenda without regard for anyone else. He was direct in his criticism of European political leaders, saying they have fallen behind events rather than anticipating them. In his view, governments should have seen this coming and acted before young people had no choice but to act themselves. Costa-Gavras also warned that France is unlikely to be the end of it. He believes the wave will spread to other European countries before long, carried by the same frustration that has driven hundreds of thousands into the streets of Paris. #France #CostaGavras #StudentProtests