Hundreds of French high schools shut as teen protests escalate

Almost 400 high schools were closed across France on Friday over a week-long protest movement by pupils that has seen dozens of staff members wounded and some 2,000 people arrested, officials said.

The movement, which began last week in the Paris region and rapidly spread nationwide, has seen teenage pupils at lycees in their final years of schooling block access to their establishments and clash with police.

The students say their school hours are excessively long, conditions at schools inadequate including overheated classrooms, and that there are too many staff absences. The government says the grievances are legitimate but violence is not.

Education Minister Edouard Geffray said “the high school student movement is being held hostage by ultra-violent fringe groups,” adding that nearly 400 high schools out of the 3,700 in the country were expected to be closed on Friday.

Many high schools have also planned to conduct classes remotely, particularly in the southern city of Marseille.

At least 65 staff members have been injured, including 40 high school principals, since the start of the movement, Geffray told BFMTV.

“Parents must clearly step up and tell their children not to go” to the protests, he added. “What matters now is ensuring our children are no longer out on the streets, because they are in danger.”

Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said he has asked prosecutors to hold parents liable for damage caused by their children during the protests and “pay for repairs”.

Since the start of the movement, around 2,000 people have been taken into police custody”– 90 percent of whom were minors”, Darmanin told RTL.