France Prepares to Close Up to 500 Schools as Violent Student Protests Resurge

Protesters run from tear gas during student demonstrations in Lyon, eastern France on October 2, 2026 [AFP]. France is preparing to fully or partially close up to 500 schools on Monday as a wave of student protests grows increasingly violent.

Education Minister Edouard Geffray announced these precautionary measures on Sunday, aiming to achieve a “partial, progressive return to lessons.” Despite a brief weekend lull, student protesters have vowed to resume demonstrations early in the week. These protests began last month over issues such as class sizes and a lack of teachers.

Lessons will be “totally or partly suspended” across some “400-500” high schools because necessary security conditions “have not been fulfilled,” the minister stated. He also noted that 24 schools have been “burned or ransacked” since the unrest started, emphasizing that the closures are strictly a security measure.

Organizers have called for major demonstrations on Tuesday, expressing frustration over the lack of “concrete measures” from the government of President Emmanuel Macron. French students clash with police near a high school in Aubervilliers on Thursday [Tom Nicholson/Getty Images].

According to Geffray, at least 170 students and 78 educational personnel have sustained injuries since the demonstrations started in the Paris region in mid-September. The Ministry of National Education reported that at least 400 of France's 3,700 high schools were shut down on Friday, with 560 experiencing disruptions or protests. Geffray indicated that Monday's affected school count would mirror Friday's numbers.

Mobilization began on September 17 at a high school in a Paris suburb, driven by grievances over a lack of teaching staff and excessive school-day hours. The movement has since expanded nationwide through class strikes, blockades, and street demonstrations.

The interior minister reported over 5,000 arrests in the past week, with 85 percent of those detained being minors. Critics have condemned the police response, labeling the force used as “disproportionate.” Meanwhile, Amnesty International urged that student protesters “must be listened to, not repressed.”

Speaking on French public radio, Geffray alleged that far-left activists had “infiltrated the high school student movement, hijacked it from the students themselves and engaged in extreme violence.”