France: Student protests over conditions at French high schools fuel political clashes

Student protests spread to high schools across France on Monday, resulting in dozens of injuries, over 160 arrests and arguments between senior politicians — a day ahead of a nationwide strike by public sector workers and seven months ahead of the presidential election.

Teenagers at French lycées (equivalent to US high schools) have been blockading their schools since last week in protest at overcrowded classes, heavy workloads, poor quality learning materials and teacher shortages.

The movement began in the Ile-de-France region around the capital, Paris, but on Monday spread to other regions including Lille in the north, Marseille in the south and Sedan in the east.

Video footage on French media showed student protesters lighting flares and firing fireworks, even inside a school building, while police officers responded with tear gas.

French student protests: what have politicians said?

As of Monday night, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez reported incidents at around 180 establishments resulting in 164 arrests and injuries to 12 students, three teachers and 12 police officers.

He acknowledged that the "difficulties of high schools must be heard and addressed" but said: "This wasn't about making demands, it was really violence in its purest form."

He added that "a number of individuals … were masked, equipped with fireworks in tubes and projectiles [and] clearly wanted to confront the internal security forces."

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu called the "escalation" of the situation "irresponsible" and said: "Fireworks, fires, violence near high schools: nothing justifies endangering students, staff, or police officers."

'Hands off our youth!' French politicians clash over protests

Education Minister Edouard Geffray said that the protests, which he described as a "classic high school student movement," were being exploited by violent elements — and took aim at the left-wing La France Insoumise (France Unbowed or LFI) party and its presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

"There is a political hijacking of the blockades by elected officials from France Unbowed," he said.

Earlier on Monday, Mélenchon had accused the government of implementing a "crackdown" with "obvious racist undertones."

"Hands off our youth!" he wrote on social media, while encouraging LFI activists and officials to support the protests wherever they could.

Prime Minister Lecornu called the accusation of racism "an insult" and accused Mélenchon of "racializing a debate about student security and adding to division where a responsible politician should be looking to restore calm."

In the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis, the LFI-run local council called the students' demands "legitimate" and published a statement reading:

"Let [the authorities] come and talk to [the students] and see for themselves whether the youth are being instrumentalized, or whether they are simply capable of thinking, organizing themselves and defending their own study conditions and their future."

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France: strikes — and an election — to come

The Union Syndicale Lycéenne, the French union that defends the interests of high school students, said it would urge a nationwide blockade of schools on Tuesday — coinciding with planned strike action by public sector workers.

French primary school teachers' unions said they expected some 40% of teachers to be off work on Tuesday.

With a key presidential election only seven months away and incumbent President Emmanuel Macron constitutionally barred from standing for a third term, French politicians from across the ideological spectrum are seeking issues that resonate with voters.

Mélenchon, a 75-year-old veteran anti-capitalist who finished third in the 2022 presidential election, is popular among younger, left-leaning voters.

His LFI party was one of the left-wing outfits which joined the Nouveau Front Populaire (New Popular Front or NFP) coalition in 2024 to oppose the far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally or RN) in legislative elections.

The coalition beat the RN but the elections produced a divided parliament which has been dogged by political deadlock and votes of no-confidence.

Prime Minister Lecornu is still trying to build enough support to pass a 2027 state budget, but his government is besieged by opponents who are unwilling to accept spending cuts while energy costs continue to rise.

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Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru

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