What began at lycées in the Paris region last month has become a nationwide crisis for France’s schools, as protests over teacher shortages and poor learning conditions have been followed by fires, blockades and confrontations with police.
More than 400 schools and colleges across France remained closed on Friday. The interior ministry said demonstrations had affected 1,027 lycées so far, with 222 blockaded. University students joined the demonstrations on Thursday, and 30 universities were blockaded, according to the context provided.
Students have cited a lack of teachers and other staff, overcrowded classrooms, run-down buildings and insufficient learning materials. The protests spread across the country this week after first emerging in the Paris region.
Fires were set at schools in several places during the demonstrations. At least two high schools were affected by fires on Thursday, including two in Nantes, in western France. Footage from Rouen, in the north, showed flames engulfing a school entrance.
In Marseille, staff at Victor Hugo high school were reportedly splashed with petrol while protesters filled containers. Teachers at another school in the southern city were also reportedly inadvertently splashed with petrol. The identities and conditions of those involved have not been given.
The unrest has also brought repeated confrontations between young protesters and police. Riot police clashed with youths in Toulouse, in the southwest. Further clashes were reported on Friday in cities across the country, including Loire and Paris. Demonstrations and unrest have also been reported in Strasbourg and Marseille.
The interior ministry said 1,949 people were arrested on Thursday, while police have made around 2,000 arrests across the protests. It said 305 police officers were injured on Thursday. Scores of other people have been injured, including 40 high school principals, according to Geffray.
The government has described the demonstrations as descending into “urban violence”. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu held a crisis meeting on Thursday to discuss the unrest, though the brief gives no details of any response decided at the meeting.
The damage is becoming a further concern for local authorities. In the southeastern Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, authorities said at least €25 million of damage had been caused within their jurisdiction alone. The full cost across France is unknown.
The closures and blockades have disrupted education well beyond the schools where the protests began. The movement has put longstanding complaints about staffing, class sizes and school conditions at the centre of a wider public-order crisis, while the duration of the closures and the government’s next steps remain unclear.
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