Violent Student Protests Over School Conditions Spread Across France as Government Calls Crisis Meeting

French students have ignited bins and constructed blockades outside schools across multiple cities to protest severe classroom overcrowding, teacher shortages, and deteriorating facilities. According to regional education authorities, prefectures, and union representatives, several school principals faced injuries, harassment, or assaults during high school blockades on Thursday, prompting police to detain hundreds of protesters at lycees attended by students aged 15 to 18.

At Marseille’s Victor Hugo high school, teachers were inadvertently splashed when a student attempted to throw petrol into a rubbish bin, local authorities reported, following earlier prosecutor's office statements that teachers had been assaulted and doused in petrol. At Saint-Exupery high school in the same city, hundreds of youths surrounded a responding firetruck, forced firefighters to flee the vehicle, and set it ablaze. Meanwhile, in Nantes, firefighters extinguished a school entrance fire after officials reported staff-directed violence, and in Strasbourg, demonstrators burned barriers on tram tracks, forcing authorities to halt tram services to restrict rioter movements.

Students voiced deep frustrations over infrastructure decay. Raphael, a 17-year-old protesting in Strasbourg, stated that classrooms hold 35 students, reaching unbearable temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius in summer, compounded by inadequate toilets, water leaks, falling-apart buildings, a small cafeteria, and zero budget or resources. These grievances have fueled a wave of student anger spreading nationwide, resulting in roughly 340 demonstrations outside high schools and over 160 school closures by Thursday mid-morning, alongside university students blocking about 30 campuses in cities including Paris and Marseille.

Authorities confirmed numerous injuries resulting from thrown objects and police riot-control projectiles. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced that police initiated internal investigations into brutality allegations involving three students, while Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu convened a crisis meeting and instructed ministers to cancel upcoming official travel to address the protests. Education Minister Edouard Geffray stated he will meet with staff unions, parent associations, and student groups on Friday.

The unrest has intersected with the upcoming presidential race to succeed President Emmanuel Macron next May. While the government accused the far-left France Unbowed party of inciting the protests, presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon asserted on Wednesday that his party advocated nonviolent struggle methods and criticized the government's response as repressive.