France High School Protests Turn Violent as Schools Burn and Headteacher Attacked
Attackers in Marseille doused a headteacher in petrol as violent student protests over staff shortages and dilapidated buildings swept across France, resulting in arrests and injuries nationwide. Protests have affected about 400 of France’s 3,700 lycées, with blockades seeing teenagers burn rubbish bins and hurl bottles at officers, who responded with batons and tear gas.
Arrests Mount Across French High Schools as Demonstrations Expand
Most of those arrested were minors and children.
The movement originated the previous week in the Île-de-France region surrounding Paris before expanding rapidly to other major urban centers. In Nantes, students piled up rubbish bins at the entrance to the Lycée Gabriel Guist’hau, while another blaze hit the Nelson Mandela high school. Olivier Chateau, a deputy to the mayor of Nantes, told broadcaster franceinfo that the fire at the Nelson Mandela high school was under control, that people in the building had been evacuated, and that students due to arrive at the school were turned away, with no injuries reported. Meanwhile, in the northwestern city of Rennes, approximately 100 students at the Lycée Bréquigny hurled projectiles at the building, an AFP video journalist documented.
Political Clash Over Budget Cuts and Presidential Ambitions
The timing of the student blockades coincides with a nationwide public sector strike opposing government spending cuts included in the proposed 2027 state budget, which encompasses 54 billion euros ($61.3bn) of funding cuts and savings. Lecornu is attempting to secure enough political backing to pass the 2027 budget through a divided parliament where President Emmanuel Macron’s administration faces intense opposition over proposed reductions in public expenditure.
The protests have triggered a sharp political confrontation ahead of the presidential election scheduled for the following spring. France 24 reported that Lecornu clashed publicly with far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon over the motivations and policing of the demonstrations. Mélenchon accused the government of repressing students with excessive force, claiming an unmistakably racist undertone to the police response. Lecornu rejected the allegation as an insult, emphasizing that students and staff require protection and that condemning violence should take precedence over political posturing. Urging France Unbowed supporters to become involved wherever they can, Mélenchon posted, Don’t touch our young people,
after Lecornu accused officials from his party of encouraging the scattered demonstrations.
Official Responses and Demands for Remote Learning
Government officials have drawn a firm distinction between legitimate student grievances and the destructive actions of outside agitators. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez noted that troublemakers have moved from school to school specifically to incite violence. Education Minister Edouard Geffray urged schools to transition to remote classes wherever protesters block campus premises, stating on the social media platform X that violence will not deny students their fundamental right to an education.
Students and unions maintain that conditions within secondary education have reached a breaking point. Placards displayed outside institutions such as the Lamartine school in Paris highlighted exhaustive daily schedules, with one sign reading, 8am-6pm. More hours of lessons than sleep.