From Paris to the far west, French high school campuses have turned into flashpoints as students set fires outside school gates and confronted police, a fast-moving protest wave that has already forced the closure of about 400 establishments and shows little sign of easing.
The unrest began last week in the Paris region before spreading rapidly across the country. At lycees, teenage students in their final years have blocked entrances, disrupted access to buildings and, in some cases, clashed with police.
Students argue they are being pushed to breaking point by overly long school days, inadequate conditions such as overheated classrooms, and frequent staff absences that leave lessons disrupted.
Officials have acknowledged the complaints but condemned what the government has branded “urban violence”.
Protesters, for their part, have accused police of using excessive force, saying officers have caused injuries by repeatedly firing tear gas canisters to break up gatherings.
In Paris today, fires damaged the entrances of two high schools — Leonard de Vinci in the south of the city and Gaston-Bachelard in the southeast — prompting the fire brigade to respond and put out the blazes, according to an AFP photographer.
‘Held hostage’
Education minister Edouard Geffray said “the high school student movement is being held hostage by ultra-violent fringe groups,” and noted that nearly 400 of France’s 3,700 high schools were expected to be closed today.
A number of schools are also preparing to shift to remote teaching, with the southern city of Marseille among the places where online classes are planned.
Mr Geffray told BFMTV that at least 65 staff members have been injured since the protests began, including 40 high school principals.
He added that around 170 students have been wounded, and that more than 100 high schools have sustained “severe damage”.
“Parents must clearly step up and tell their children not to go” to the protests, he said.
“What matters now is ensuring our children are no longer out on the streets, because they are in danger.”
Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said he has instructed prosecutors to pursue parents for damage caused by their children during the protests and to ensure they “pay for repairs”.
Since the start of the movement, around 2,000 people have been taken into police custody” — 90% of whom were minors”, Mr Darmanin told RTL.
‘We’ve won’
In Rennes in western France, the atmosphere outside the Jean-Mace high school was tense early on, with students dressed in black and wearing balaclavas positioned near a sizable police presence.
“As far as we’re concerned, we’ve won – our school is closed this morning,” said one 16-year-old student.
She denounced what she described as police violence. “It makes us even angrier – the police have no right to hit us or use tear gas on us.”
Police fired tear gas at the Kerichen high school in Brest, also in western France, an AFP photographer reported.
The demonstrations are also reverberating politically, coming just over half a year before presidential elections. The government has accused the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) — led by firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon, who is again running for the presidency — of being behind the movement.
Senior LFI figure Manuel Bompard rejected that claim, accusing the government of “descending into conspiracy theories”.
Seeking to lower the temperature, Mr Geffray said he would meet today with education unions and high school student associations in an effort to find common ground and open dialogue.
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