Nearly 2,000 people were arrested across France on Thursday as nationwide strikes and student unrest continued to escalate, with riot police firing tear gas at protesters in Saint-Denis. High school and university students joined striking firefighters, healthcare workers, transport staff, and other civil servants to demand more substitute teachers and better learning conditions. The unrest saw protesters erect makeshift barricades, block schools and universities, and set garbage bins on fire during clashes with law enforcement.
Police Response and Arrests
On Thursday, authorities took into custody 1,949 people, a sharp rise from the 625 detentions recorded the day before. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez denounced what he called “unrestrained violence,” and the ministry said that 305 police officers and gendarmes suffered injuries. Nunez argued that the police action was proportionate. The General Inspectorate of the National Police, France’s police oversight body, has launched three inquiries into episodes where students were hurt. Prosecutors reported that a young man in Tours suffered head wounds that appear to have been caused by a projectile from a less-lethal police device.
The disturbances spread outside Paris, reaching Marseille. Demonstrators assaulted firefighters who were tackling a blaze in front of Lycee Saint-Exupéry, looting and setting fire to one of their trucks, which left one responder injured. They also ignited a city bus near Lycee La Floride, damaging several other buses and prompting officials to halt public transportation throughout the city.
Political Reactions and Demands
The government held a crisis meeting on Thursday, during which the prime minister’s office cited intelligence services in claiming that the violence was organized by the left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) party and its far-left proxies. LFI spokesman Manuel Bompard urged the government “not to descend into conspiracy theories or treat high school students like children.” He told AFP that the movement was “spontaneous” and born out of frustration with educational conditions. LFI presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon called on students to use only nonviolent methods.
Students are calling for increased public-school funding, lighter schedules and reduced class sizes. Christelle Kauffmann, deputy secretary-general of the SNPDEN-Unsa union for school administrators, said that principals simply do not have the means to shrink classes. She criticized the attacks on school heads, noting that several principals were wounded during the protests. Educational facilities suffered damage, such as Lycee Diderot in Paris, whose front was blackened after a large fire involving trash cans and scooters, and Lycee Nelson-Mandela in Nantes, where a deliberately set blaze harmed the building.
The turmoil occurs as President Emmanuel Macron’s popularity has slipped to near-record lows, with recent surveys showing his approval or confidence rating hovering around 16-18%. Education Minister Edouard Geffray announced that over 400 schools are expected to close on Friday because of the unrest. He maintained that the student movement had been “held hostage by violent groups.” While the government tries to portray the demonstrations as driven by political factions, the persistence of the strikes points to deep frustration with current education and social policies.
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