PARIS: Demonstrations swept across France on Tuesday as teachers, parents and high school students joined the biggest day of protests yet over conditions in the country’s schools.
Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse violent groups on the fringes of marches in Paris, Strasbourg, Rennes and Toulouse. The Interior Ministry said more than 250,000 people took part in demonstrations across dozens of cities, while organizers estimated the turnout at 450,000.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said at least 215 teenagers and 85 school staff had been injured in clashes, describing the toll as the heaviest in decades for France’s school system. More than 700 police officers were also reported injured, while the Interior Ministry said 488 people were arrested on Tuesday.
The protests began in September in disadvantaged Paris suburbs before spreading nationwide. Students and parents say schools are suffering from understaffing, inadequate funding and poor maintenance, including water leaks and rat infestations.
The High School Students Union said more than half of France’s high schools had been blockaded or closed for the day. Some education authorities moved classes online.
In Marseille and Nantes, protesters carried signs accusing the state of abandoning public education. In Toulouse, parents joined students at the front of a march, while demonstrators in Strasbourg complained about the growing gap between political elites and young people.
Rights groups, students and parents have accused authorities of using disproportionate force against minors. The government says the movement has been infiltrated by outsiders and that some demonstrations have descended into urban violence.
The protests come as France faces wider political and economic pressures. President Emmanuel Macron’s allies lost their parliamentary majority in 2024, while the government is struggling to pass a budget and reduce a growing deficit.
Lecornu has ordered ministers to address students’ main demands, including replacing absent teachers, reviewing the school day and improving lunch breaks. The government will also examine repairs to ageing school buildings, with initial proposals expected by the end of October.
Finding money for reforms could prove difficult as France’s borrowing costs rise. The yield on its 10-year government bonds briefly exceeded 5% last week, reaching a 24-year high amid investor concerns over debt, weak growth and government spending.
The unrest is also unfolding ahead of France’s presidential election next spring, with support for populist parties on both the far right and far left rising.
U.S. President Donald Trump linked the protests to immigration and Islam in a social media post, but the students’ stated demands concern education funding, staffing and school conditions rather than religion or immigration.
