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Police fired tear gas to control crowds in Paris and elsewhere in France on Tuesday as more than a quarter of a million people rallied nationwide to support school pupils demanding more education funding, according to government figures. The protests increased pressure on the administration of outgoing President Emmanuel Macron.<\/p>\n
As pupils blockaded high schools, large crowds waving flags and placards gathered in Marseille, Strasbourg and other cities. The demonstrations showed how protests that began at a high school in the Paris region in mid-September have grown into a nationwide movement \u2014 the latest of many that have marked Macron\u2019s nearly decade-long tenure.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to listen to them,\u201d said L\u00e9a Monimart, an adult demonstrator in the northern city of Lille. \u201cThey are 17 years old; they are not completely clueless, and they know what they are talking about. It\u2019s important to show that there are adults who support them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Interior Ministry estimated that 266,000 people took part in demonstrations across the country on Tuesday, including 56,000 in Paris, where small groups of protesters clashed with riot officers at a city square at the end of a largely peaceful march.<\/p>\n
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NICOLAS GUYONNET<\/p>\n
High school students are demonstrating and holding signs displaying their demands (regarding resources and schedules) in front of the gates of the Camille Vernet high school in Valence, in the Drome department of southeastern France, on Oct. 6, 2026.<\/p>\n
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Nearly 500 people were detained Tuesday, the ministry said. The widespread use of arrests, tear gas and riot-control weapons against teenagers is fueling defiance and angering some parents and teachers. Some student groups called for new protests Thursday.<\/p>\n
Interior Minister Laurent Nu\u00f1ez said the police response had been proportionate in \u201calmost all cases\u201d and that the protests had at times turned into riots, requiring police intervention.<\/p>\n
French Prime Minister S\u00e9bastien Lecornu said the government and school leaders must listen to students\u2019 concerns and find solutions.<\/p>\n
Questioned in parliament on Tuesday about the protest movement, Lecornu denounced \u201cultra violence\u201d threatening schools. Responding to criticism of police tactics, he pledged that any \u201caccidents\u201d would be investigated and described allegations that the police are racist as a \u201clie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Class boycotts with police making thousands of arrests<\/p>\n
More than two weeks of class boycotts and school blockades, and policing that has led to more than 6,500 arrests, mostly of minors, have become a flashpoint in the early days of the presidential election campaign.<\/p>\n
Felix Barney, a university student, described the police response as disproportionate, saying it doesn’t make \u201cany sense to hit minors.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRiot police, batons, rubber bullets, tear gas,\u201d said Aur\u00e9lien Le Coq, a lawmaker with the far-left France Unbowed party. Its presidential candidate is strongly backing the protests.<\/p>\n
The violence is \u201cabsolutely unbearable,\u201d Le Coq said.<\/p>\n
Nu\u00f1ez defended police tactics despite a growing number of severe injuries blamed on officers\u2019 riot-control weapons. In the latest case, a 15-year-old boy lost a hand Monday in an incident involving a police stun grenade. He said 715 officers had been injured.<\/p>\n
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LOU BENOIST<\/p>\n
Anti-riot police officers face protesting students carrying out blockading action outside the secondary school Le Corbusier, in Aubervilliers, northern Paris on Oct. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n
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The teenage protesters have struck a chord amid widespread discontent in France. Frustrations extend beyond immediate difficulties, such as fuel prices that have soared because of the Iran war, to broader concerns about constraints on public spending, rising poverty and wealth inequality under Macron, who can’t run for a third consecutive term.<\/p>\n
Against that backdrop, pupils\u2019 complaints that education funding shortfalls are endangering their futures have found a sympathetic audience.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou say \u2018young people are the future,\u2019 so listen to them,\u201d read a handwritten placard attached to a metal barrier outside a Paris school.<\/p>\n
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OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE<\/p>\n
Riot police watch a fire at a makeshift barricade set up by protesters during clashes on the sidelines of a demonstration of high-school students as part of a nationwide protest movement over learning conditions in Lyon, on Oct. 6, 2026.<\/p>\n
Ministry offers online portal for complaints<\/p>\n
At the H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher lyc\u00e9e, or high school, in Paris’ 20th district, protesters tipped over trash cans and bicycles onto their sides to create a makeshift barricade.<\/p>\n
Like hundreds of others around the country, the school was closed. Authorities began shutting schools last week to take some steam out of the demonstrations after widespread damage to schools and mounting injuries among staff, students and police. Classes were totally or partially suspended on Tuesday at 891 schools, according to the Education Ministry.<\/p>\n
Facing accusations that it was ignoring protesters, the ministry launched an online portal inviting high school students to anonymously describe the difficulties they face at school and the changes they want to see.<\/p>\n
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SEBASTIEN SALOM-GOMIS<\/p>\n
CRS riot police charge at demonstrators during a demonstration part of a nationwide day of actions called by high-school students, joined by unions and teachers, who for days have been demanding better learning conditions in protests punctuated by violent confrontations in Nantes, western France, on Oct. 6, 2026.<\/p>\n
Student protests have drawn attention to rundown classrooms<\/p>\n
At H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boucher, parents and other adults positioned themselves on Tuesday between protesters and police keeping watch.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are our children. Teachers, parents, federations, we all share the same goal: the protection of children\u2019s rights, and it is a legitimate right to demonstrate and to make demands,\u201d said Emilia Sichili Suriam, who is a member of an association of parents.<\/p>\n
Demonstrators have voiced a range of grievances, often centering on a lack of resources and opportunities for students in disadvantaged schools, despite the promise of France\u2019s national motto: \u201cLiberty, Equality, Fraternity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students have drawn attention to rundown classrooms that lack basics such as desks and chairs, become sweltering in summer without air conditioning and, in some cases, are infested with rats. Other common complaints include staff shortages and exhausting workloads. French high school students\u2019 compulsory classroom hours are among the highest in Europe.<\/p>\n
Suzanne Nijdam, president of the federation of student associations, vowed that demonstrations would continue until authorities address the complaints.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we really need to act now, and it\u2019s in the government\u2019s hands, to see these demands through to the end,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a matter of political priority, a matter of prioritizing the youth and the future of our country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neighboring Belgium is also seeing student protests. More than 30 were arrested Tuesday, and several police were injured in the eastern city of Liege, and smaller protests were held in Brussels and other cities. <\/p>\n
John Leicester, Mark Carlson and Sylvain Plazy in Lille, Jeffrey Schaeffer, Masha Macpherson and Catherine Gaschka in Paris, Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police fired tear gas to control crowds in Paris and elsewhere in France on Tuesday as more than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1240427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5309],"tags":[335036,335040,335038,4094,25186,2266,91363,34,2000,299,36,147083,335032,335031,16311,335034,64136,263648,10042,10039,10040,45610,25643,64650,1411,335035,457,529,18744,119755,92158,15642,335037,60737,335033,12338,37033,335039,302840,75784,1323],"class_list":["post-1240426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-aubervilliers","tag-class-boycott","tag-class-boycotts","tag-country","tag-demonstration","tag-education","tag-education-funding","tag-emmanuel-macron","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-france","tag-france-protests","tag-france-school-protests","tag-france-student-protests","tag-high-school","tag-high-school-students","tag-laurent-nunez","tag-ldnd","tag-lille","tag-lyon","tag-marseille","tag-ministry","tag-nantes","tag-parent","tag-paris","tag-paris-region","tag-people","tag-police","tag-protest","tag-protester","tag-riot-police","tag-school","tag-school-blockades","tag-school-funding","tag-school-protests","tag-sebastien-lecornu","tag-strasbourg","tag-student-group","tag-student-protests","tag-tear-gas","tag-tuesday"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1240426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1240427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1240426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1240426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1240426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}