French school blockades spread as authorities report more than 200 arrests

French students’ school blockades spread beyond the Paris region on Tuesday, with clashes reported in several cities and authorities reporting more than 200 arrests across Monday and Tuesday. Students are demanding better conditions in schools, while teachers have joined wider protests over public spending plans.

The Interior Ministry reported 164 arrests on Monday, according to the Guardian. By midday Tuesday, the Education Ministry had reported a further 40. Those figures are snapshots from different days, rather than a final nationwide count. The ministry also reported protests at 300 high schools by midday Tuesday, the Guardian said.

From Paris to other cities

Le Monde traced the movement to Saint-Exupéry high school in Créteil, where several teaching posts were unfilled when protests began on 21 September. It reported disruptions at about 60 high schools in the Paris region on 24 and 25 September, before the Union Syndicale Lycéenne, or USL, called for nationwide blockades on Tuesday alongside broader public-sector action.

The number of schools affected has changed as the protests have spread. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said demonstrations broke out at 180 schools on Monday, according to the Guardian. That Monday figure should not be read as a count of Tuesday’s activity, nor does a report of disruption mean a school entrance was successfully blockaded.

The movement also reached the Lyon area. Lyon Capitale reported attempts to blockade four high schools on Monday, in Bron, Décines-Charpieu, Vaulx-en-Velin and Villeurbanne. It reported seven arrests and four minor injuries in the local incidents. Citing Le Progrès, the outlet said fireworks were fired inside the Frédéric-Faÿs school in Villeurbanne, where police used tear gas.

What students and teachers are demanding

USL president Ryad Rani said the union wanted to broaden its action because the problems extended across France, Le Monde reported. The union cited shortages of teachers and other staff, deteriorating buildings, crowded classes, demanding timetables and stress linked to the Parcoursup higher-education admissions system. These are the union’s stated concerns; the reporting does not establish their scale at every school.

Rani told the Guardian that some classes had 32 to 35 students and described a general lack of resources. At the Lamartine high school in northern Paris, students carried placards objecting to long days. One read: ‘8am-6pm. More hours of lessons than sleep.’ The accounts help explain the demands, although neither provides a national measure of class size or teaching hours.

Teachers joined a march in central Paris, the Guardian reported. Caroline Chevé, secretary general of the Fédération Syndicale Unitaire teachers’ union, said students and teachers faced the same difficulties, including crowded classrooms and staffing shortages. She said she understood students’ frustration. The school actions coincided with a wider public-sector strike over government budget plans that the Guardian said included €54 million in spending cuts; it reported an estimate that 40% of primary-school teachers stopped work on Tuesday.

Arrests, injuries and political responses

The reported injuries also have different cutoffs. Le Monde attributed Monday figures of 10 injured students, eight education staff and 12 law-enforcement officers to the Interior Ministry. The Guardian reported that, by midday Tuesday, the Education Ministry said 10 students and staff had been injured. The categories and periods differ, so the figures cannot be combined into a single injury total.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu called an escalation of the protests irresponsible, saying fires and violence near schools endangered students, staff and police. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of France Unbowed, accused the government of a crackdown and alleged a racist undertone. Lecornu rejected that accusation and called for calm. These are opposing political claims, rather than findings about the conduct of every police operation.

Rani urged protesters to remain peaceful, the Guardian reported. He condemned instructions to police to maintain public order outside schools with proportionate force and said some teachers and school staff had stood between students and police. Le Monde reported that a police oversight inquiry was opened after a social-media video appeared to show an officer firing a grenade launcher at close range toward a student in Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône. The reported inquiry had no outcome in the available coverage.

How far the blockades will spread remains unclear. Le Monde reported that school authorities saw social media amplifying the movement, but said its precise reach was uncertain and demands varied between schools. The arrest counts, injury reports and school totals may change as authorities issue later updates.