More than 400 schools across France remain closed as student protests over underfunded classrooms and missing teachers turn into violent urban clashes, resulting in 5,000 arrests and dozens of injuries among teachers and police officers since late September 2026.
Édouard Geffray Orders Closures as Protests Turn Violent
Lessons remain totally or partly suspended in hundreds of facilities because security conditions have not been fulfilled
, according to Education Minister Édouard Geffray. The unrest has affected more than 500 establishments nationwide as secondary school blockades spread rapidly from the Paris suburbs. Images of burning barricades and police using tear gas have dominated news broadcasts.
Officials report that 24 schools have been burned or ransacked. At least 65 education staff members have been injured, including 40 principals, alongside roughly 170 students and more than 300 police officers. What began as demonstrations against overcrowded classes of up to 40 children in crumbling buildings quickly morphed into confrontation.
Education Minister Geffray stated that the high school student movement is being held hostage by ultra-violent fringe groups. The protests caught the government by surprise, confronting President Emmanuel Macron with his worst crisis in months and posing a clear risk to both staff and students.
In the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis, crowds of young people massed in front of a line of police, with some students holding up signs asking if protesters and authorities could explain themselves without being teargassed. The movement began at a Paris school on September 17 and spread across the capital and the rest of France. Teacher Sonia Benameur, who teaches in a poor Paris suburb, noted that students are very serious and want to protest about their rights in un-air-conditioned classrooms where they can go weeks without a substitute teacher.
“The students’ grievances about missing teachers and deteriorating schools were real at first, but dousing a principal in gasoline and attacking firefighters are acts of extreme violence. What makes this politically significant is the effort to turn frustration over schools into a much broader confrontation with the government.”
Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, senior envoy to Europe at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Laurent Nunez and Gérald Darmanin Report 5,000 Arrests
Roughly 90 percent of those in police custody have been identified as minors, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez and Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin reported after law enforcement agencies detained around 5,000 people since the movement escalated. In Marseille, attackers doused a headteacher in petrol at Victor Hugo high school and forced firefighters to flee before setting their fire truck ablaze at Saint-Exupery high school.
Protesters have accused security forces of heavy-handed tactics, pointing to injuries caused by riot control munitions. In Tours, a 16-year-old student was struck in the eye with an LBD-40 defense ball launcher.
Sébastien Lecornu Faces Fiscal Pressure and Political Finger-Pointing
Education spending increases would rise by only 1.7% as Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s administration deals with political tension following the unveiling of the 2027 budget.
LFI officials have denied the allegations, accusing the government of attempting to politicize legitimate student grievances ahead of the 2027 presidential election. Following a crisis meeting, the Prime Minister’s Office stated that intelligence services attribute the escalation to a maneuver organized by the hard-left La France Insoumise (LFI) party and its proxies.