Europe · updated 1h ago · 2 min read
France Student Protests Turn Violent as Police Use Tear Gas, Laurent Nunez Says 440 Detained
More than 400 detainees nationwide, mostly minors, during student protests. Protests began in Paris region over overcrowded classrooms and teacher shortages, spreading nationwide.
Whether LFI is “politically hijacking” the blockades.
4 of 7 outlets skipped it: hydrochloric acid thrown at police during protests.
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The Independent
“There is nothing that justifies showing up at institutions to demonstrate, masked”Read the original ↗
Tempo.co English
“There is a political hijacking of the blockades by elected officials from France Unbowed,”Read the original ↗
Some outlets emphasise general criminal violence; one foregrounds a specific party political blame.
French protests turn violent
France’s student protests over conditions in lycees turned violent as protesters burned rubbish bins and hurled bottles at officers, while officers responded with batons and tear gas. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 440 people had been detained nationwide, and the French education ministry said protests had affected about 400 of France’s 3,700 lycees. The unrest spread from high schools in the Paris area last week to cities including Lille, Bordeaux, Rennes, Nantes, Lyon and Marseille, with confrontations reported as officers used tear gas after vandalism.
“Authorities said 48 law enforcement officers were injured.”
The protests also coincided with a public sector strike over the government’s budget plans, adding political pressure on Emmanuel Macron ahead of next year’s presidential election. Caroline Cheve, secretary-general of the FSU education union federation, said pupils and teachers shared the same frustrations about overcrowded classrooms and teacher shortages.
Detentions, injuries, and quotes
Laurent Nunez told BFM TV that 440 people had been detained nationwide, and he said about two-thirds were subsequently placed in police custody. Laurent Nunez condemned protesters who arrived with their faces covered and carrying projectiles, saying there was no justification for seeking confrontations with officers. Sophie Binet described footage of the earlier incident in Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône as “extremely shocking” and called it an act of “police brutality”.
Édouard Geffray told the public that “The right to demonstrate is a fundamental freedom that cannot serve as an excuse for such actions,” while he condemned violence as “indefensible”. Ryad Rani, president of Union Syndicale Lycéenne, accused the French government of “repression” and police of using excessive force.
Budget stakes and next steps
The protests centered on France’s lycees, where students said they faced large class sizes, absent teachers, inadequate school buildings and exhausting schedules. The nationwide public-sector strike tied the school unrest to budget plans that included 54 billion euros of funding cuts and savings, and unions also opposed freezing state employees’ base salaries in 2027 to save about 2 billion euros. Sophie Binet told BFMTV that the government had 48 hours to withdraw the planned spending cuts before the union considered further strike action.
“The proposed €54 billion savings package is intended to lower the public deficit.”
The BBC said the protests coincided with nationwide walkouts by unions representing teachers, hospital staff and civil servants, and it reported that Interior Minister Nuñez said those protests “mostly went without incident.” The French government’s draft 2027 budget was due to be presented two days after the nationwide mobilisation, and the unrest added pressure as the political fight approached next year’s presidential election.