Letter: French student protests

NOBODY expects a treatise of political sociology from a foreign correspondent ('Balladur plagued by rash of violent youth protests', 27 March). One does expect, however, reporting that makes an attempt at deciphering underlying reasons for 200,000 students to take to - and remain - in the streets and why violence was (sometimes) the outcome. The rebellion of May 1968 may well have ended when 2 million De Gaulle supporters demonstrated. Far more important were the social changes that these events heralded and the example they gave of social change in French society.

Brendan Prendiville

Pace, France