France to shutter up to 500 schools as more student protests called

French education minister cites safety concerns for closures as resumption of protests are called for by organisers.

Protesters run from tear gas during student demonstrations in Lyon, eastern France on October 2, 2026 [AFP]

France plans to fully or partially close up to 500 schools on Monday amid a series of student protests that have become increasingly violent .

Education Minister Edouard Geffray announced the precautionary measures on Sunday as part of a bid for a “partial, progressive return to lessons”. However, after a weekend lull, student protestors announced they plan to resume demonstrations – launched last month over complaints regarding class sizes, lack of teachers, and other complaints – early in the week.

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Lessons will be “totally or partly suspended” in some “400-500” high schools as the security conditions “have not been fulfilled”, the minister said. He added that 24 schools had been “burned or ransacked” since the start of the protests.

Geffray said the closures were a security precaution. Protest organisers have called for a return to large-scale demonstrations on Tuesday, citing a lack of “concrete measures” from President Emmanuel Macron’s government.

French students clash with police near a high school in Aubervilliers on Thursday [Tom Nicholson/Getty Images]

At least 170 students and 78 educational personnel have been injured since the student demos first erupted in the Paris region in mid-September, according to Geffray.

The Ministry of National Education reported that at least 400 of the 3,700 high schools in France were closed on Friday , while 560 faced protests or disruptions.

The number of schools affected on Monday would be comparable to the figure from Friday, Geffray said.

Teachers and students first mobilised at a high school in a Paris suburb on 17 September over a lack of teaching staff, excessive school-day hours and other grievances . The protests have since spread nationwide, resulting in class strikes, blockades and demonstrations.

According to the interior minister, more than 5,000 people have been arrested in the last week; 85 percent of them minors.

Critics have criticised “disproportionate” police violence in response to the demonstrations. Rights group Amnesty International said the student protestors “must be listened to, not repressed”.

In an interview on French public radio, Geffray claimed far-left activists “infiltrated the high school student movement, hijacked it from the students themselves and engaged in extreme violence.”

法国教育部长以安全为由关闭学校，而组织者则呼吁恢复抗议活动。

2026年10月2日，法国东部城市里昂，学生示威游行期间，抗议者躲避催泪瓦斯。[法新社]

由于一系列学生抗议活动日益暴力化，法国计划于周一全部或部分关闭多达 500 所学校。

教育部长爱德华·杰弗雷周日宣布了这些预防措施，旨在“逐步部分复课”。然而，在周末的平静之后，学生抗议者宣布计划在本周初恢复示威活动——这些示威活动是上个月发起的，起因是班级规模过大、师资力量不足以及其他一些问题。

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，第1条）

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4条，此为第2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 3/4：法国学生抗议演变成暴力事件的背后原因是什么？

（共4条）抗议活动导致数百所法国学校关闭，暴力事件爆发

这位部长表示，由于安全条件“尚未得到满足”，约400至500所高中将“全部或部分停课”。他还补充说，自抗议活动开始以来，已有24所学校“被烧毁或洗劫一空”。

杰弗里表示，关闭这些场所是出于安全考虑。抗议组织者呼吁周二再次举行大规模示威活动，理由是总统马克龙的政府缺乏“具体措施”。

周四，法国学生在奥贝维利耶一所高中附近与警方发生冲突。[汤姆·尼科尔森/盖蒂图片社]

据杰弗里称，自9月中旬巴黎地区爆发学生示威活动以来，至少有170名学生和78名教育工作者受伤。

法国国民教育部报告称，周五法国3700所高中中至少有400所关闭，另有560所高中面临抗议或干扰。

杰弗里表示，周一受影响的学校数量将与周五的数字相当。

9月17日，巴黎郊区一所高中的师生首次发起抗议活动，反对师资短缺、上课时间过长以及其他不满。此后，抗议活动蔓延至全国，引发了罢课、封锁和示威游行。

据内政部长称，过去一周已有超过5000人被捕；其中85%是未成年人。

批评人士指责警方在应对示威活动时使用了“过度”的暴力手段。人权组织国际特赦组织表示，学生抗议者“必须被倾听，而不是被镇压”。

在接受法国公共广播电台采访时，杰弗雷声称极左翼活动人士“渗透到高中学生运动中，从学生手中劫持了该运动，并参与了极端暴力活动”。