NBA Star Victor Wembanyama Backs French Students Protesting Over School Conditions

France's basketball star Victor Wembanyama voiced his support on Thursday for French teenagers protesting conditions in the country’s schools. The Ministry of the Interior reported that 71,500 people participated in Thursday’s demonstrations, with 24,500 joining the main Paris march centered on Place de la Bastille.

“These are systemic inequalities – problems so deep-rooted that, in fact, I’m glad that high-school students and young people in general are speaking up,” Victor Wembanyama stated during a news conference on Thursday night. “I hear them, and I support them, and I hope the people all over there will do the same.”

The San Antonio Spurs player previously responded with “I would love to” when a fan on Instagram asked him to join the protest alongside the French teenagers. “I have a lot of interest. I meant it,” Victor Wembanyama added at the news conference. “I was in that position not so long ago. I’ve had the chance to escape this system, to escape these problems. But it’s chance, it’s luck. So I want to show my support.”

“It’s not something that’s completely unfamiliar to me. I went to high school in Nanterre, which was already a stronghold of ‘blocages’ back then,” he noted, referencing student-led school blockades.

Growing concerns regarding state schools have sparked several of France’s most significant protests in decades. The movement started last month at high schools in the poor northern suburbs of Paris, where frustration over teacher absences and shabby facilities rapidly transformed into a nationwide campaign against inequality, weak public spending, and falling standards.