A reply on Instagram

Victor Wembanyama signalled his backing for the protests on social media first. On Wednesday he posted photos from his summer in France on Instagram, and a commenter invited him to join the student protests back home. He answered "I would love to", and that reply was liked more than 1,000 times. The San Antonio Spurs player, now entering his fourth NBA season, spent the offseason in Paris and his hometown of Nanterre, and he has taken public positions on French and US politics several times this year.

Press conference after the Spurs game

His first public comments on the movement came after the Spurs' preseason game against the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday, which San Antonio lost 116-123. Wembanyama played 17 minutes, all of them in the first half, and scored 9 points with 6 rebounds before sitting on the bench. Speaking to reporters at a press conference on Thursday night, he said the problems were systemic inequalities and that he was glad high-school students and young people were speaking up.

I hear them, and I support them, and I hope the people all over there will do the same.

Wembanyama said the issues were not unfamiliar to him. He attended high school in Nanterre, which he described as already a stronghold of blockades back then. He added that he had escaped these problems by chance.

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.

Protests and official counts

The movement began in September at high schools in Paris' poor northern suburbs, where teacher absences and shabby facilities quickly grew into a nationwide protest against inequality, weak public spending and falling standards. On Tuesday, the French interior ministry said at least 260,000 people took part in marches in Paris, Marseille, Nantes and Lyon, while the inter-union group claimed as many as 450,000 demonstrators across the country. Labor unions led rallies in more than 40 cities that day, and riot police used tear gas and water cannon in clashes with protesters. Half of France's 3,700 high schools were shut or partially closed. On Thursday, the interior ministry counted 71,500 people at the demonstrations, including 24,500 in the main Paris march centred on Place de la Bastille.

Other French athletes weigh in

Judoka Teddy Riner posted on social media that a burning high school puts lives at risk, that those responsible must be identified and punished, and that he refuses to put a whole generation on trial. Jimmy Gressier, the 10,000 m world champion, first shared a message criticising some of the students' demands and then said he understood anger at the system but not the use of the cause to destroy things, endanger people and attack firefighters and police. Le Figaro placed Wembanyama's statement after those of Riner and Gressier.

His record on public issues

Wembanyama has spoken on US politics ahead of the American midterm elections scheduled for 3 November, saying life is difficult for the average citizen there. He had earlier taken a public position against ICE, the immigration police. Asked about the French presidential election in August, he said his views were becoming less filtered with age.

As the years go by, I have fewer and fewer filters, and I'm less and less afraid to say what I think

What comes next

Four more preseason games remain before the Spurs open the new NBA season on 20 October against Oklahoma City. In his closing remarks Wembanyama said he hoped the people "up there" would do the same, a line Ouest France read as a call on the government.