Since Sept. 28, police have arrested at least 5,000 people, as discontent has translated into blockades across the country.
On Sunday, French Education Minister Edouard Geffray threatened to fully or partially close up to 500 schools because of student protests that have progressively intensified.
RELATED:
Student Protests Spread Across France Amid Repression, Nearly 2,000 Detained
During a discussion on the France 2, he mentioned that 24 schools have been “set on fire or looted” and 78 education workers have been injured during the ongoing protests, which have also included blockades and clashes with security forces in many parts of the country.
The current wave of student protests began with discontent over the general deterioration of schools due to the lack of replacement teachers for absent educators and maintenance problems at facilities that do not meet adequate conditions for students.
Expressions of discontent have translated into blockades and incidents at hundreds of schools across the country, with violence on the rise. Since Sept. 28, police have arrested at least 5,000 people.
🚨 LA FRANCE EXPLOSE — ET ON FAIT COMME SI DE RIEN N’ÉTAIT
Hier, environ 170 manifestations.
Le ministère de l’Intérieur parle de 206 000 personnes.
Les syndicats, de près de 300 000.
Enseignants, pompiers, soignants, agents territoriaux, salariés du public :
tous dans la rue.… pic.twitter.com/h90ZNHQ35c— FlashFrance (@FlashFrance2) October 2, 2026
The text reads, “France is erupting, yet we act as if nothing is happening. Yesterday, there were around 170 demonstrations. The Interior Ministry reports 206,000 participants, while unions estimate close to 300,000.
Teachers, firefighters, healthcare workers, local officials, and public servants—all have taken to the streets. Not by choice, but because purchasing power is plummeting, wages are frozen, working conditions are deteriorating, and public services are failing.
At the same time, students are protesting: overcrowded classrooms, a shortage of teachers, and schools in a state of disrepair. Hundreds of schools have been affected, hundreds of arrests made, and injuries sustained on both sides.
This is not an isolated movement; it is a country pushed to the limit. Yet abroad, the news goes almost unnoticed. As if hundreds of thousands of French citizens taking to the streets were a mere footnote.
The truth is simpler: ordinary people no longer believe this system works for them. Wages, schools, hospitals, standards of living, trust—everything is deteriorating at once.
France is outraged. And those in power still fail to grasp the situation.”
With the blockades spreading to universities, the most contentious day came on Thursday, with nearly 2,000 arrests. Among the most serious incidents was the setting on fire of a high school in Nantes on Thursday and the lynching of an undercover police officer in Belfort on Friday, an incident for which two people were arrested on Sunday. Authorities also arrested a 16-year-old today on suspicion of spraying gasoline on a teacher in La Ciotat, in southern France, on Oct. 2.
On Friday, President Emmanuel Macron’s administration sought to negotiate with the students and announced measures to try to ease the protests, including a plan to accelerate the replacement of absent teachers.
However, student organizations consider those promises insufficient and have called for protests to be intensified starting Tuesday. On that day, student demonstrations are expected to be supported by actions from labor and teachers’ unions.
teleSUR/
Sources: EFE
From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.