France faces widespread high school blockades and a national day of protests on Tuesday, following a week of demonstrations over dilapidated school buildings, teacher shortages, and heavy policing that has left over 5,000 people arrested and multiple protesters seriously injured.
Amid such anger, a few measures just for show aren’t going to satisfy demands,
said Sophie Binet, the head of the leftwing CGT trade union. France faces widespread high school blockades and a national day of protests on Tuesday, following a week of demonstrations over dilapidated school buildings, teacher shortages, and heavy policing that has left over 5,000 people arrested and multiple protesters seriously injured.
The nationwide mobilisation escalated sharply after a 15-year-old protester lost his hand outside a high school in the northern town of Lens during a confrontation with riot officers. François-Xavier Lauch, the prefect of Pas-de-Calais, confirmed that an investigation has been opened into the incident after between 150 and 200 protesters hurled objects at police. The exact sequence of events, including whether a stun grenade caused the injury, is under official examination.
The incident follows an earlier case in Tours where a 16-year-old school pupil lost sight in his right eye after being struck by what the state prosecutor identified as a police rubber bullet, prompting a separate police complaint and investigation. In Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône last week, a 14-year-old boy named Eden suffered a double jaw fracture and required extremely major surgery after reportedly being struck on the head by a tear gas grenade, according to legal representation for the family.
Teacher Shortages Spark Mass Demonstrations Across France
Students are protesting against chronic underinvestment, dilapidated facilities where pupils describe water leaking into classrooms alongside cockroaches and collapsing ceilings, and severe teacher shortages that leave classrooms unstaffed for months during critical exam years. What began in late September as a localised walkout at a high school in a Paris suburb has quickly widened into a national youth movement.
Sophie Binet criticized the government response, stating that the number of unreplaced absent teachers had doubled over the span of a decade while class sizes reached record highs. Binet called for an immediate halt to budget cuts affecting teacher positions.
Between 400 and 500 high schools out of a nationwide total of 3,700 remained partly or completely closed on Monday, according to higher education minister Philippe Baptiste. University students have expanded the movement by blockading up to 40 university buildings in solidarity with the high school protesters.
Government Concessions Meet Skepticism From Organisers
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu attempted to defuse the unrest by acknowledging student grievances as legitimate and ordering ministers to present concrete proposals by the end of the month.
We will make no concessions to violence. We stand by students and staff who have been assaulted, as well as police officers and gendarmes who have been injured.
Sébastien Lecornu, Prime Minister
Despite the government’s promised measures, the Union Syndicale Lycéenne (USL), a leading organiser behind the protests, dismissed the concessions as nothing concrete
and urged citizens to join the Tuesday mobilisation to push back against political stagnation and police tactics. Education Minister Édouard Geffray reported that 24 schools have been burned and ransacked since the demonstrations began, while rubbish bins have been set on fire.
Mass Arrests Polarize Politicians Ahead of Elections
The Ministry of Justice reports that 5,060 people have been arrested since the demonstrations started, with minors accounting for 87% of those detained and adults making up the remaining 13%. Out of those arrested, 1,802 individuals face prosecution—comprising 1,483 minors and 319 adults—while 14 people have been placed in pre-trial detention.
The unrest has sharply divided political figures ahead of upcoming elections. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the radical-left La France Insoumise party, characterized the demonstrations as the most powerful high school and university student youth movement
since the historic protests of 1968. Conversely, hard-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen argued that the demonstrations have evolved past student activism, asserting that the movement is about riots organised by professionals and overseen by deputies from La France Insoumise
and calling for new anti-rioting legislation.
Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon stated that restoring public order is the administration’s primary objective. Meanwhile, trade unionists, teachers from the SNES-FSU union, and parents’ groups prepared to march alongside student demonstrators in towns and cities across the country to demand both educational reform and an end to the heavy police crackdown.