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French students clash with police over class sizes and teacher shortages, with over 200 arrested as school blockades spread across France.
French students clashed with police across the country on Tuesday as blockades of high schools over class sizes, teacher shortages and long timetables turned violent, with more than 200 arrests reported. The protests, which began in Paris last week, have escalated and spread, leading to confrontations in cities such as Lille, Bordeaux, Rennes, Nantes and Marseille.
Protests Escalate Across France
In Lille, northern France, high school pupils set fire to dustbins and threw bottles, paving stones and other projectiles at police, who responded with teargas after protesters vandalised bus shelters and advertising hoardings. Similar confrontations occurred between children and police in Bordeaux, Rennes and Nantes in western France, and Marseille in the south.
At the Lamartine lycée in the north of Paris, students waved placards complaining they had exhausting timetables. One read: 8am-6pm. More hours of lessons than sleep. The demonstrations have drawn attention to what students describe as unbearable conditions in schools.
On Monday, the interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said protests had broken out at 180 schools, and 12 officers, 12 students and three school staff had been injured. By midday on Tuesday, the education ministry was reporting protests at 300 high schools, a further 40 arrests and that 10 students and staff had been injured.
Political Reactions and Government Response
The prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, said earlier that escalating the demonstrations would be irresponsible. He posted on X: Fireworks, fires, violence near high schools: nothing justifies endangering students staff or police. His comments came as politicians traded verbal blows over how to respond to the unrest.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), responded to ministers instructions to police, posting on X on Monday: The high school students protesting are harmless. The Lecornu government has ordered a crackdown. This brutality is irresponsible and has a clear racist undertone. Hands off our youth. Elected officials and France Unbowed activists, step in wherever you can.
Lecornu, responding on X, called Mélenchons intervention an irresponsible escalation. The duty of an elected official of the republic is to protect young people and call for calm. Exploiting their anger for partisan purposes is wrong, he wrote. The exchange highlighted deep divisions over the handling of the protests.
Union Strikes and Student Demands
The protests came as French unions went on strike over the government s budget plans, which include 54 million in public spending cuts. Many public sector workers stopped work on Tuesday, including an estimated 40% of primary school teachers. The strike added to the widespread disruption across the country.
Ryad Rani, president of the Union Syndicale Lycéene (the high school students union) had called for a total blockade of France s high schools as a parallel action but urged protesters to remain peaceful. He said the union was protesting about a general lack of resources, overcrowded classrooms of sometimes 32-35 students and the shortage of teachers and staff.
He said a circular sent by the interior and the education ministries to the police, telling them to maintain public order outside high schools with a proportionate use of force, was a absolute scandal. We re talking about pupils of 15-18 years old and the government s only response is automatic and institutionalised repression. It s unacceptable. High school pupils are taking action to demand fairer and more equitable conditions and they re being met with the BAC and the CRS, Rani said.
He added that some teachers and school staff had stood in front of students to protect them from police. Those are the images you should be showing, Rani told BFM TV. Caroline Chevé, secretary general of the main teachers union the Fédération Syndicale Unitaire (FSU Unitary Trade Union Federation), who joined protesters at a march in central Paris on Tuesday, said she understood pupils frustration.
They re facing the same challenges as we are. They re in overcrowded classrooms. Sometimes they don t have enough teachers because of staffing shortages. They see the same reality as we do, and they re angry, Chevé said. The protests reflect broader discontent with the government s education policies and budget cuts.
French Students School Blockades Police Clashes France Protests Teacher Shortages Class Sizes Union Strikes
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