More Than 5,000 Arrested as French School Protests Escalate

Between 400 and 500 schools across France will be fully or partially closed on Monday because of ongoing student protests, Education Minister Edouard Geffray said, with 24 schools already having been burned or ransacked since the movement began.

Geffray said Sunday that lessons would be “totally or partly suspended” at around 400 to 500 high schools because security conditions “have not been fulfilled.” He said the number of affected schools would be similar to Friday's figure but promised a “partial, progressive return to lessons.”

More than one-third of the 468 schools in the wider Ile-de-France region around Paris will be closed Monday because of the demonstrations, regional president Valerie Pecresse told Franceinfo.

The protests began at a Paris school on September 17 before expanding nationwide last week, with some demonstrations turning violent as teenagers clashed with security forces. Police have at times used tear gas and batons to disperse students.

Students at French high schools, known as lycées, have complained about high teacher absenteeism, excessively long school days and deteriorating facilities, along with other grievances.

At an open-air meeting in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, students spoke Sunday about their complaints.

One student from a deprived district said, “The violence is unleashed.” She referred to a student who had lost his teeth after being hit by a police rubber bullet and another who had suffered an eye injury.

A 16-year-old student named Campion held a placard reading, “They say they are listening to us but prefer to gas us.”

“I don't understand why the government deploys so much force against a case that is valid: our education, our future,” he told AFP.

Geffray accused far-left infiltrators of having “hijacked” the movement and engaging in extreme violence. He said the situation created a risk for both staff and students and reported that 78 education workers had been injured.

“They were deliberately targeted because they were employees of the national education system,” Geffray said.

Organizers have called for demonstrations to continue Tuesday, citing the government's lack of “concrete measures.”

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu sought to respond to the students' concerns Sunday by establishing a timetable that calls on local authorities to prioritize filling vacancies created by long-term absences and unfilled positions.

Lecornu also scheduled a meeting with regional presidents for Tuesday to discuss renovating the country's frequently deteriorating school buildings.

More than 5,000 people have been arrested since the protests began, 85% of them minors.

A 16-year-old was detained Sunday over an attack on a teacher in the southern town of La Ciotat. The 59-year-old teacher was hit and doused with gasoline near a high school demonstration Friday.

In Belfort in eastern France, footage emerged last week showing several youths kicking and beating a police officer who was on the ground, prompting strong reactions from officials.

The prosecutor said two youths, Bulgarian nationals aged 15 and 17, had been arrested and placed under investigation for suspected aggravated violence.

The lawyer for one of the youths, whom the officer had attempted to arrest before the assault, said his client had filed his own complaint alleging attempted murder.

Amnesty France criticized what it called “disproportionate police violence” during the demonstrations last week and said students must be able to express their grievances.

“Authorities must allow young people to exercise these rights without fear of being hit by tear gas grenades or batons, or being arbitrarily taken into police custody,” said Anne Savinel-Barras, president of Amnesty France.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez rejected the characterization of the police response, saying security forces “are not cracking down on young people” but are instead “protecting” students who want to “peacefully voice their demands.”