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‘This violence is unspeakable’ – Hundreds arrested as student protests rage in France, school staff hunted by students

Far-left France Unbowed party leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, called the teenagers "harmless" and denounced what he termed a "ferocious" crackdown with "an unmistakably racist undertone."

By
- Remix News Staff -
7 Min Read

French police detained 440 people, most of them minors, on Tuesday as high school blockades that began last week around Paris spread nationwide and, in several cities, gave way to clashes, arson and vandalism.

Images and videos of the violence rapidly spread on social media, including harrowing videos of teachers and staff being hunted by students. One video of a school staff member from the Stéphane Hessel High School, who was attacked while trying to extinguish a dumpster fire.

In another video, a chemistry teacher was kicked and chased by rioters outside the César Baggio high school.

In another video, a chemistry teacher was kicked in his back and chased through the streets of Lille.

Other videos showed burning barricades and large crowds of students, a pattern seen at schools across the country.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told BFMTV that about two-thirds of those detained were placed in police custody, mainly on suspicion of property damage or assaulting officers.

Forty-eight members of the security forces were injured, he said. “Violence is never legitimate. There is nothing that justifies violence,” Nuñez added, describing the police response as “extremely proportionate.”

Education Minister Édouard Geffray said at least 10 school employees were hurt and that the Education Ministry had counted 31 injured students and staff in all. Among the cases he cited were a teacher beaten in northern France, a principal struck by a firework mortar in Hauts-de-Seine, west of Paris, and another principal in Essonne who received a death threat.

“Legal proceedings have been initiated against these actions. This violence is unspeakable,” Geffray wrote on X.

He said the right to demonstrate “cannot serve as an excuse for such actions” and warned that anyone who “legitimizes them or calls for the expansion of the blockades in this context puts our students and public sector employees in danger.”

The ministry stated that protests or disruptions affected 416 schools during the day — out of about 3,700 lycées nationwide. By evening, 338 sites were still affected, including 45 fully blocked and 46 facing attempted blockades.

The main high school union, the Union Syndicale Lycéenne, put the number of blockaded schools far higher, at about 400, and called students to join a nationwide public-sector strike already planned for Tuesday.

The movement started last week in the Paris suburbs, with students citing teacher shortages, overcrowded classes, poorly maintained buildings, and sweltering classrooms during this year’s heat waves. On Monday, authorities reported 164 detentions and disruptions at 180 schools. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu called any further escalation “irresponsible,” while saying “the difficulties of high schools must be heard and addressed.”

Scenes in several cities went well beyond sit-ins. In Lille, masked youths set trash bins and bicycles alight outside Lycée César Baggio, smashed bus shelters and pulled down a traffic signal as police fired tear gas. Similar confrontations were reported in Nantes, where students stacked bins across the gates of Lycée Gabriel Guist’hau, and at Lycée Arago in Paris, where a small group faced a police line.

Officials said hydrochloric acid was thrown at officers in seven incidents.

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Tuesday’s school unrest coincided with a one-day strike by civil servants, including teachers, firefighters and hospital staff, two days before Lecornu is due to present the draft 2027 budget.

Unions said they were fighting a proposed freeze in the public-sector pay index, the fourth in a row, and a broader €54 billion ($63 billion) savings plan as France’s debt and deficit remain under pressure.

Unions claimed hundreds of thousands marched nationwide against the pay freeze.

Education Minister Geffray has accused lawmakers from the hard-left France Unbowed party of encouraging students to expand the blockades. Party leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon called the teenagers “harmless” and denounced what he termed a “ferocious” crackdown with “an unmistakably racist undertone.”

Another round of blockades could come n Thursday, when the budget text is expected.

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