Student protests are sweeping France as the government struggles to curb spending to bring public finances under control months before a key presidential election.
On Tuesday, people spilled into the streets for a nationwide day of protest after over two weeks of student demonstrations that have blockaded schools across the country. Several of France’s influential unions joined Tuesday’s rallies, as crowds gathered in Paris, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse and other cities.
“Today’s high school and university students are tomorrow’s workers. They should not have to pay the price for austerity policies,” one of France’s main labor unions, the CGT, said in a statement.
Hundreds of schools have shut their doors in recent days, with students airing grievances over run-down buildings, overcrowded classrooms, understaffing and inequalities in the education system.
“Old enough to be teargassed, but not to protest,” one sign in Lille said. Some people held signs indicating they were parents or school staff showing support. “Disenchanted generation,” read another sign in Paris.
Hundreds of protests, thousands detained
The movement spiraled out of a demonstration in late September in support of striking teachers at a school in the Paris suburb of Créteil, spreading through neglected, working-class suburbs of the French capital.
Protests have since expanded across the country, and on Monday, blockades affected some 500 largely public high schools, about 10 percent of the lycées in France.
Though much of the student action has been relatively nonviolent, it has at times descended into clashes as protesters set dumpsters and barricades on fire or launched fireworks, while riot police unleashed tear gas at the crowds.
Rights groups say police are deploying heavy-handed force with rubber bullets and batons against the protesters, many of them schoolchildren.
More than 5,000 people have been detained during the protests, many of them minors, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez. Nearly 300 students and school staff have been injured as well as hundreds of police officers, authorities said.
A teenage boy had his hand blown off in the northern town of Lens on Monday after touching a stun grenade, local media reported. Nuñez called the incident a “tragedy,” as authorities said they were still investigating the details.
At least 24 schools were hit by acts of vandalism or arson, Education Minister Édouard Geffray said over the weekend.
Geffray met with students this week to convey that the government is listening to their concerns, and has called on protesters to allow classes to resume. Speaking on French television Tuesday, he promised the government has “already started implementing a plan of action.”
A politically fraught moment
The unrest is roiling France about six months out from an election that will determine who succeeds two-term President Emmanuel Macron, a vote that has come to symbolize the battle between Europe’s mainstream political center and the nationalist forces on the hard right.
Marine Le Pen, matriarch of France’s far-right National Rally, has been leading in the polls.
The government is trying to pass a new state budget for 2027 and curb spending on some elements of the social benefits system. It is the latest effort in France, the eurozone’s second-largest economy, to plug a gaping budget deficit as borrowing costs surge.
The plan includes changes to pension rules, freezing public sector wages and limiting health care costs. It is now up for debate in a fragmented Parliament.
Even with efforts to tighten the purse strings, education remains among the costliest categories, alongside rising military spending and debt interest costs.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has in recent days written to ministers with instructions to fill more teaching jobs, address dilapidated school infrastructure and review the length of the school day.
Le Pen is presenting her own plans to contain public spending Tuesday, as she seeks to build credibility in her party’s ability to govern. The party has been rattled this month by a French media investigation revealing alleged antisemitic messages by her protégé and party star Jordan Bardella.
Le Pen has joined French government officials in accusing the far-left La France Insoumise of hijacking student sentiment and stoking violence.
Its divisive leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, also a candidate in the 2027 presidential election, has supported the protests but rejected the accusations. Some party leaders attended Tuesday’s marches.
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