French school unrest: students, teachers march on biggest day of protests

Students, teachers and parents marched in cities across France on Tuesday and protesters blockaded hundreds of schools, in the biggest day of action in a wave of demonstrations demanding the government tackle understaffed and dilapidated classrooms.

In Marseille, Nantes and Lyon, the street protests began peacefully mid-morning, with the largest demonstration expected in Paris in the afternoon.

Youngsters held aloft smoke flares and placards reading “Under our schoolbooks, anger” and “Where are the politicians? Do they even know we exist?”

Tuesday’s demonstrations come after a fortnight of protests which began in Paris’ deprived suburbs before spreading across the country. The government responded with riot police, saying the movement had now morphed into urban violence.

A teenager’s hand was blown off as high-school protesters clashed with riot police in northern France on Monday. Francois-Xavier Lauch, prefect of Pas-de-Calais, declined to comment on the exact circumstances, saying some 200 to 250 protesters had been hurling objects at police.