Massive student protests in France demanding educational reform are facing increasing violence

Like wildfire, the protest movement of students, which began on September 21 from Saint-Exupéry High School in the city of Crete, southeast of Paris, expanded due to a shortage of educational staff. This movement quickly extended to the majority of public secondary schools in the Ile-de-France region, which includes the capital and its distant suburbs. One week after the start of the movement, strikes and the closure of high schools spread throughout France, reaching 180 educational institutions in the Parisian region and in major cities such as Marseille (south) and Lille (north), and in institutions in the center of the country such as the “Le Rhone” region or the “Le Phare” and Alpes provinces.

Practical demands

The demand movement expanded more and more in response to the call for “general mobilization” launched by the “Union of Secondary Schools,” to include more than 300 institutions.

Between the end of September and the beginning of October, university student unions took action and joined the movement. On Thursday, the students joined the movement of secondary school students.

According to the Student Union, at least 30 university campuses have been closed in many cities; Among them are Paris, Strasbourg, Marseille, Lyon, Reims, Poitiers and Nantes. To complete the picture, it must be noted that middle schools joined the movement, including in the Rhone region in central France. It turns out that what the protesters are demanding includes increasing the resources allocated to education, providing replacements for absent teachers, renovating schools and improving study conditions, in addition to objecting to the pressures associated with the university admission system. Students in various regions complain of overcrowded classrooms, a shortage of teachers, the deteriorating condition of educational buildings and equipment, and the lack of cleanliness in some schools, among other practical demands.

Map of strikes and unrest

The map of the strikes and the violence that accompanied them around schools, especially in the last three days, shows that all French regions have become in a state of boiling.

What began as a demand for teachers to fill the gap in a school, turned into a comprehensive demand movement and took on a broad political dimension, while France was suffering from a wave of high prices, inflation, and a decline in purchasing power.

The most prominent cause of the socio-economic crisis was the rise in the prices of oil and gas derivatives, which the authorities tried to deal with by providing limited aid to those most affected by this rise. The authorities found themselves constrained by the country's dilapidated finances, which suffer from a debt amounting to 3,600 billion euros, and with high interest rates that have reached an unprecedented level in decades, such that in 2026 they must pay approximately 80 billion euros in interest.

What made matters worse was that the government of Sebastian Le Corno prepared an austerity budget for the year 2027, which was presented to the Council of Ministers on Thursday and included the imposition of new taxes, affecting pensioners’ allocations, and working to reduce spending at a rate unknown in previous budgets. As the country is preparing for the presidential elections that will be held in the spring of next year, it was natural for politics to expand, divisions to deepen, and accusations to be directed in every direction.

It is no secret that every demonstration that takes place in France attracts rioters from the extreme left and right, who ride the wave and target policemen, set fires, destroy whatever is available in the streets, and sometimes private shops, and do not hesitate to confront the security forces, which is what happened in the last two days.

Available official figures indicate that there were no less than 340 movements in front of secondary schools in the Ile-de-France region alone, the closure of 169 of them, and the suspension of classes in 200 secondary schools. Police figures indicate that fifty of them were “the scenes of acts of violence, confrontations, and sabotage.”

It is difficult to enumerate the violent incidents that took place in recent days, as fires, attacks on school principals and teachers, clashes between demonstrators and policemen, and arrests were counted.

On Wednesday alone, police arrested 625 people, and 1,109 students and employees and 83 police and gendarmes were injured. The General Inspectorate of the National Police opened three investigations into the injury of a number of high school students, while Interior Minister Laurent Nunez defended the security personnel’s treatment of the protesters, stressing that they “intended to use very appropriately” what he called “intermediate weapons” in reference to tear gas.

Government concerns

This deteriorating reality raises serious concerns for the government. Its president, Sébastien Le Cornu, called an emergency meeting on Thursday afternoon of the ministers concerned and set up a crisis cell to follow up on the situation.

In parallel, Gerald Darmanin, Minister of Justice, moved by calling for a remote meeting with 36 public prosecutors representing the state in the courts in order to urge them to deal with the judiciary “firmly,” which means calling on them to issue “heavy” sentences against the rioters. On the other hand, Education Minister Edouard Jeffray sought to “ventilate” the tension by launching a “consultation platform” that would make room for “all high school students to contribute to it,” that is, to express their demands.