Protests shutter hundreds of French schools as violence flares

Education minister declares students ‘in danger’ as hundreds of injuries reported across the country amid clashes and fires.

What’s behind France’s school protests?

Hundreds of schools have been closed across France amid a student protest movement that has turned increasingly tumultuous.

At least 400 of France’s 3,700 high schools were closed on Friday, the Ministry of National Education said, with 560 reporting protests or disruptions. The demonstrations began at high schools in the Paris area last week, but they have spread nationwide and led to violent clashes with police.

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On Friday, students across the country, many clad in masks, blockaded schools, lit fires in the streets, and faced off with police as they rallied against large class sizes and absent teachers .

“We are 35 per class, we don’t have enough chairs in classrooms, the one-hour lunch break [is too short] for everyone to get food,” 15-year-old Kesia told the Reuters news agency in the Paris suburb of Pantin before running off as the police used tear gas.

Fire damaged the entrances of two high schools in the capital, Leonard de Vinci in the south of the city and Gaston-Bachelard in the southeast, with the fire brigade called to extinguish the blazes.

Students waved placards reading “We have a future to build, not to endure.”

The school protest movement coincides with a public sector strike against the government’s budget plans, raising the pressure on President Emmanuel Macron before elections next year.

French CRS riot police detain a protester outside the Lycee Deodat-de-Severac in Toulouse France, October 2, 2026 [Nacho Doce/Reuters]

Approximately 2,000 people have been detained so far, the vast majority of whom are children, according to Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin.

Parents should be liable for damage caused by their children and “pay for repairs”, he told RTL.

Education Minister Edouard Geffray warned parents to “tell their children not to go” to the protests.

At least 170 students have been wounded, along with 65 school staff members, including 40 principals, he told BFMTV. More than 100 high schools have sustained “severe damage”.

“What matters now is ensuring our children are no longer out on the streets, because they are in danger,” Geffray declared.

Rights group Amnesty International wrote on social media that “the images of high school students being assaulted by law enforcement are extremely alarming”.

“Many are minors, children,” the organisation said. “They must be protected, not beaten with batons.”

Lola, a 16-year-old speaking to the AFP news agency in the western city of Rennes, condemned what she described as police violence while standing outside Jean-Mace high school.

“It makes us even angrier – the police have no right to hit us or use tear gas on us,” Lola said.

The government has accused the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party of commandeering the movement. Senior LFI official Manuel Bompard dismissed the assertion as a “conspiracy theory”.

In an effort to quell tensions, Geffray said he planned to meet on Friday with education unions and student associations to find room for dialogue.

教育部长宣布学生“处于危险之中”，全国各地冲突和火灾导致数百人受伤。

法国校园抗议活动的背后是什么？

在学生抗议运动日益动荡之际，法国各地数百所学校被迫关闭。

法国国民教育部表示，周五法国3700所高中中至少有400所停课，另有560所报告发生抗议或扰乱教学秩序事件。示威活动上周始于巴黎地区的高中，但随后蔓延至全国，并引发了与警方的暴力冲突。

法国公共部门员工因薪资问题举行罢工，学生抗议演变为暴力事件（共四条，此为第一条）：法国公共部门员工因薪资问题举行罢工，学生抗议活动演变为暴力事件。

列表 2/4：法国学生抗议演变成暴力事件的背后原因是什么？

法国学校抗议活动蔓延，纵火和封锁加剧了动荡局势（共4条，此为第3条）

列表 4（共 4 项）：法国学校抗议活动的背后是什么？

周五，全国各地的学生，许多戴着口罩，封锁了学校，在街上纵火，并与警察对峙，抗议班级规模过大和教师缺勤。

“我们班有 35 个人，教室里的椅子不够，一个小时的午休时间太短，每个人都没时间吃饭，”15 岁的凯西亚在巴黎郊区潘坦告诉路透社，随后警察使用了催泪瓦斯，她便跑开了。

首都两所高中的入口遭到火灾损坏，分别是位于城市南部的莱昂纳多·达·芬奇高中和位于东南部的加斯东·巴什拉尔高中，消防队已赶赴现场灭火。

学生们挥舞着标语牌，上面写着：“我们有未来要建设，而不是忍受。”

学校抗议运动恰逢公共部门罢工，抗议政府的预算计划，这给明年大选前的总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙带来了更大的压力。

2026年10月2日，法国图卢兹，法国防暴警察在德奥达-德-塞韦拉克中学外拘留了一名抗议者。[Nacho Doce/路透社]

据司法部长杰拉尔德·达尔马宁称，目前已有约2000人被拘留，其中绝大多数是儿童。

他告诉RTL电视台，父母应该对子女造成的损害承担责任并“支付维修费用”。

教育部长爱德华·杰弗雷警告家长们“告诉他们的孩子不要去”参加抗议活动。

他告诉BFMTV，至少有170名学生受伤，另有65名学校教职员工受伤，其中包括40名校长。超过100所高中遭受“严重破坏”。

“现在最重要的是确保我们的孩子不再流落街头，因为他们正处于危险之中，”杰弗里宣称。

人权组织国际特赦组织在社交媒体上写道：“高中生遭到执法人员殴打的画面令人极其震惊”。

该组织表示：“其中许多人是未成年人，是儿童。他们必须受到保护，而不是被警棍殴打。”

16 岁的洛拉在西部城市雷恩接受法新社采访时，站在让-马斯高中外，谴责了她所说的警察暴力行为。

“这让我们更加愤怒——警察没有权利殴打我们或对我们使用催泪瓦斯，”洛拉说。

政府指责极左翼政党“不屈法国”（LFI）控制了这场运动。LFI高级官员曼努埃尔·邦帕尔驳斥了这一说法，称其为“阴谋论”。

为了缓和紧张局势，杰弗里表示，他计划于周五与教育工会和学生协会会面，以寻求对话的空间。