France school protests shut 400 schools as clashes escalate

What is happening in France?

Nearly 400 French high schools were forced to close on Friday and hundreds more faced severe disruptions as nationwide student protests over classroom conditions escalated into widespread street clashes, arson, and arrests.

The unrest, which has been growing for days, has led to approximately 2,000 arrests across the country, mostly of minors. French authorities report that 305 police officers and 65 school staff members—including 40 headteachers—have been injured in the violence.

An attempted homicide investigation has now been opened in Belfort, in north-eastern France, after a plainclothes police officer was targeted and beaten unconscious near a school. The local prosecutor, Paul-Edouard Lallois, said a 17-year-old student has been arrested and admitted to being part of the group that attacked the officer.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the officer was hospitalised but is no longer in a critical condition. He described the attackers as "rioters", not demonstrators.

Why are students protesting?

The movement began in the Paris region last month but has rapidly spread nationwide. Students are demanding better learning conditions, pointing to overcrowded classrooms—sometimes with up to 40 pupils—unsafe or crumbling buildings, frequent teacher absences, and classrooms that become unbearably hot during summer heatwaves.

"We just want to be listened to by the government," said Sophia, a 17-year-old student blocking the entrance to Lycée Voltaire in Paris. "We’d rather stand here doing this than have to learn in poor conditions."

Another student, 16-year-old Diego, told reporters that it is not normal to have 40 students crammed into a class. "We are angry," he said, adding that his school's pupils had not caused any damage.

While many students are demonstrating peacefully, several high-profile incidents of arson have shocked the country. In Nantes, the Nelson-Mandela high school—a modern, 12-year-old building that cost €64 million to construct—had its glass facade destroyed after fires lit in wheelie bins outside spread to the main building. The school will remain closed until next month.

In Paris, firefighters were called to extinguish blazes at the entrances of the Leonard de Vinci and Gaston-Bachelard high schools. Elsewhere, in Alsace, a high school student was seriously injured after grabbing an explosive pyrotechnic device that had been placed in a bin.

How has the government responded?

The French government has acknowledged some of the students' concerns but condemned what it calls "urban violence". Officials insist that legitimate student protests are being hijacked by external, violent groups known as casseurs (vandals).

"The high school student movement is being held hostage by ultra-violent fringe groups," Education Minister Édouard Geffray told French broadcaster BFMTV. He said teachers had reported that "the people in front of me were not my students."

Geffray announced that the government will launch an online consultation platform on Monday to allow students to air their grievances and expectations.

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin has taken a harder line. He told RTL radio that the protests have crossed the line into a "public order disturbance" and said he wants prosecutors to hold parents civilly liable for the cost of damages caused by their children. "Parents must fulfill their responsibilities," he said.

With France’s presidential election just seven months away, the protests have also taken on a political dimension. The government has accused the hard-left France Unbowed party of orchestrating the unrest, a claim the party's leadership has rejected as a "conspiracy theory."