French authorities close hundreds of schools due to ongoing protests

Up to 500 schools across France will be partially or completely closed on Monday amid ongoing clashes between police and student protesters, the country's Education Minister Edouard Geffret said.

Classes will be "fully or partially suspended in 400 to 500" high schools because safe conditions could not be ensured, he said.

The minister also said that since the protests began, 24 schools have been “burned or looted.”

The protests began on September 17 at a Paris school but escalated into nationwide demonstrations last week, marked by outbreaks of violence involving protesters and security forces, who sometimes resorted to tear gas and batons to disperse crowds. Thousands of people take part in the events.

High school students and other citizens have expressed dissatisfaction with teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and dilapidated buildings.

On Friday, French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said 735 of France's 3,700 schools had been affected "in one way or another" by violent protests.

The Education Secretary warned the number of schools affected on Monday could be comparable to Friday's, but promised a "partial, gradual resumption of classes".

“There are activists, particularly on the far left, who have infiltrated the high school movement, hijacked it from the students themselves, and resorted to extreme violence,” Geffre said. “This obviously poses a risk to both our staff and our students.”

Geffre added that 78 education staff were injured, which he described as "something we have never seen before."

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 1,747 people were arrested on Friday.

According to AFP, since the protests began, authorities have arrested a total of more than 5 thousand people, about 85% of them minors.

A 16-year-old teenager was detained on Sunday on suspicion of attacking a teacher in the southern French town of La Ciotat, Le Monde reported. On Friday, a 59-year-old teacher was beaten and doused with gasoline during a protest by high school students.

Last week in Belfort, eastern France, a group of teenagers were caught on video punching and kicking a policeman as he lay on the ground; the footage caused outrage among officials.

Two teenagers, Bulgarian citizens aged 15 and 17, were arrested and are being investigated on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm, the prosecutor's office said.

One of the teenagers whom a police officer tried to detain before beating him has now filed his own complaint of attempted murder, his lawyer said.

Protest organizers called for demonstrations to continue on Tuesday, accusing the government of a lack of “concrete measures,” according to AFP.

On Sunday, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said his government was taking additional steps to “address the problems faced by high school students and teachers.”

According to him, measures include ensuring the continuity of the educational process, improving the material and technical base, more rational organization of the school day and increasing the transparency of the French platform for admission to universities.

Lecornu also said the government was speeding up consideration of a bill requiring vandalism to pay damages to ensure they bear the costs of the consequences of their actions.

Amnesty International France last week strongly condemned the "disproportionate police violence" in cracking down on demonstrations and said students should be allowed to express their grievances.