The protests began mainly because students at the University of Nanterre were dissatisfied with the conditions of the college. There were many students at the university, around 2,000, and it was overcrowded. They also did not receive the education they thought they deserved. Students also campaigned for the opposite sex to visit their dorms. These college students wanted better learning conditions. Some students were also angry about the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War. Others wanted greater personal and political freedoms. Charles de Gaulle was president of France and ruled France as a conservative society. College kids wanted a more democratic and modern society than they had now. And with that they began to protest for change to be made in Paris and throughout France. On March 22, 1968, 142 radical students protested and invaded an administrative building at the University of Nanterre. They held a meeting that dealt with the French bureaucracy that controlled funding and class discrimination. The police were called to quell this meeting. The students left without any problems. This event became known as the March 22nd Movement. Several months of unrest and conflict between students and administrators led to the closure of Nanterre University for a month. Students were angry at the closure and protested on May 3, 1968 at Sorbonne University. The Sorbonne is the oldest university in Paris. Thirteen students were arrested based on the testimonies of police officers. It is not certain whether they were true or not. Three days later, on May 6, 1968, a larger protest erupted. The Nanterre students met in the center of Paris and had clashes with...... middle of paper......the structure. These protests subsequently encouraged workers to strike and demand changes. These protests were a major part of France in 1968. Works Cited Ed. 1968: A Chronology of Events in France, 8 September 2006, http://libcom.org/history/articles/france-1968Schwarz, Peter. 1968: The general strike and student revolt in France. World Socialist website, 28 May 2008. http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2008/05/may1-m28.htmlFrench Riots May 1968, Martin Frost. http://martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/paris_1968.htmlPoggioli, Sylvia. Marking the French social revolution of '68. May 13, 2008, npr. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90330162Bernath-Plaisted, Sandra. French Students and Workers Campaign for Reform (May Revolt), 1968. October 20, 2008. http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/french-students-and-workers-campaign-reform-may-revolt-1968