18-Year-Old Student Leader Nathanaël Combary Targeted by Mélenchon Amid School Protests
Nathanaël Combary, an 18-year-old head of Renouveau lycéen, has become a prominent spokesperson for the ongoing high-school protests and was publicly denounced by Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
At just 18, Nathanaël Combary rose from a recent high-school graduate to the president of Renouveau lycéen, quickly becoming one of the faces of the nationwide school protests that began a week ago. He has been a frequent guest on TV programmes, voicing student grievances and urging the continuation of the movement while denouncing incidents of violence around certain schools. On Friday he joined other youth leaders at the Ministry of National Education to demand a response from Édouard Geffray.
Combary’s visibility surged after Jean-Luc Mélenchon labeled him a “fake student” orchestrated by BFM and warned that the movement was being politically co-opted. The criticism highlights tensions between the protestors and established left-wing parties, especially since Combary is a member of the Renaissance political group.
