PARIS, Oct. 2 (Reuters/BBC): About 400 schools and other educational establishments across France are expected to remain closed on Friday as student protests over teacher shortages, deteriorating school buildings and inadequate education resources become increasingly violent.
The protests began in Paris and the surrounding region last month before spreading across the country. Dozens of people have been injured, while police have made large numbers of arrests as clashes between protesters and security forces intensified.
French Education Minister Edouard Geffray said Thursday evening that a little over 400 schools and other educational establishments would remain closed on Friday. He also told French media that 65 school staff had been injured, including 40 headteachers.
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin told RTL radio on Friday that around 2,000 people had been arrested since the protests began, with about two-thirds placed in police custody. BBC reporting said 1,949 people were arrested on Thursday alone.
Darmanin said authorities believed an active and violent minority was involved in the unrest and questioned whether all those taking part were high-school students.
“We have gone from high-school student demonstrations to a public-order disturbance,” Darmanin said, arguing that attacks on buses and schools had moved the situation beyond a conventional protest over education.
The violence escalated in several cities on Thursday.
Student protesters set fires at at least two high schools, while teachers were inadvertently splashed with petrol at a third school in the southern city of Marseille, officials said. At least one car was torched in Strasbourg in eastern France, while riot police clashed with youths in Toulouse in the southwest.
The unrest has also raised concerns about injuries among young people. BBC reporting described some of the violence and damage as severe, citing cases in which teenagers suffered eye injuries and one lost teeth.
Dispute over political involvement
The French government has also faced claims that political groups helped drive the protests.
According to a source close to Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, intelligence agencies told a crisis meeting on Thursday that the protest movement had been initiated by politicians from the hard left, including members of La France Insoumise (LFI).
LFI lawmaker Louis Boyard rejected the allegation in comments to French broadcasters.
The claims remain disputed, while the protests themselves have focused primarily on education-related grievances, including shortages of teachers, inadequate resources and the poor condition of some school buildings.
Protests spread beyond France
The unrest has also spilled across the border into neighboring Belgium.
Some high-school students in the Belgian city of Liège began protesting on Thursday. Local media reported that authorities had announced that all schools in the city would close on Friday, although a municipal spokesperson did not immediately confirm the closures.
The French government now faces pressure on two fronts: addressing the education concerns that triggered the demonstrations while containing violence that authorities say has increasingly turned the movement into a wider public-order problem.
