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Protests03 October, 20262 min read

France Police Fire Tear Gas, Rubber Bullets as High School Protests Spread Nationwide

About 400 French high schools closed as protests spread nationwide. Nearly 2,000 people detained, most of them minors, during protests.

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France Police Fire Tear Gas, Rubber Bullets as High School Protests Spread Nationwide
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France students clash with police

Students in France’s high schools escalated a nationwide protest movement over education conditions, with police responding by firing tear gas and rubber bullets in some cases. Maisa, a 17-year-old at Lycee Le Corbusier in Aubervilliers, said, "Last year I took the high school French exam without a French teacher, and teachers have a huge impact," adding, "These are not conditions to study in."

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez called the unrest a "climate of unacceptable violence" as police arrested more than 5,000 people and some protesters were seriously hurt with eye injuries, broken teeth and blows to the head. Ulysse Rabate, a political scientist at Paris 8 University, said the protests show how "those who feel it the most, and the most violently, are those at bottom," as the movement spread from the Paris region to towns including Marseille, Strasbourg, Tours and Lille.

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Arrests, injuries, and demands

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said there had been 1,747 arrests on Friday, while the protests disrupted 735 schools and included incidents involving projectiles and attacks on police officers, teachers, journalists and passers-by. Ryad Rani, head of the USL high school union, said, "High school students are expecting concrete measures from this government, and so far we have not received them," as students blocked access to buildings and clashed with police.

James, a high school student in Lille, denounced what he called "extremely violent police repression, which inevitably fuels students' anger," describing fellow students being "choked, blinded in one eye, and tear-gassed from all sides" while trying to have a dialogue. Amnesty International said, based on footage checked by Le Monde, that a close-range projectile fired at a 14-year-old boy in Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône violated use-of-force rules, as the boy faced three police officers in front of his school.

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Government response and next rallies

Education Minister Edouard Geffray said education remained a priority and that the below-inflation budget increase was due to population decline, while the education budget was set to increase by a below-inflation 1.7% to €65.53 billion, excluding teacher pensions. Geffray said classes were canceled at Lycee Le Corbusier in Aubervilliers due to a teacher shortage, and Karima Kara Ali said, "classes including maths, humanities, English and sport have been canceled since the start of the academic year".

Students and unions said they were planning to protest again next week, and Ryad Rani said, "High school students are expecting concrete measures from this government, and so far we have not received them," as the movement continued to spread nationwide. The protests also fed a wider debate about crowd-control methods, as Amnesty International said LBD (Lanceur de Balles de Défense) launchers should be suspended from use in protests, and the public prosecutor said an eye injury in Tours was consistent with a shot from an LBD.

Reporting for this sectionReutersABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation