Student protests continue across France as up to 500 high schools close

The figure represents roughly 10% to 13% of France’s 3,700 high schools, Education Minister Edouard Geffray said, citing safety concerns at the affected institutions.

The protests, which began in the Paris region in mid-September, intensified last week as students demanded more resources, better-maintained school buildings, smaller classes, and measures to address staff shortages.

In the Ile-de-France region surrounding Paris, more than 160 high schools were expected to be closed Monday, according to regional authorities.

The mobilization was accompanied by several incidents in Paris.

At Vauquelin High School in the capital, authorities reported three fires near the entrance Monday morning.

The school's headteacher alerted police after the first fire was reported at around 7.50 am local time (0550GMT), prompting firefighters to intervene and students and staff to be confined inside the building.

Around 100 students were reportedly evacuated from the school following the incident.

Meanwhile, students began blocking Turgot High School in Paris early Monday, using bins, fences and signs to obstruct access.

The Interior Ministry and Education Ministry have reported a significant rise in arrests and injuries since the mobilization began.

Authorities said around 5,000 people had been arrested since the start of the movement, about 85% of them minors in the Ile-de-France region.

Twenty-four schools have been “burned or ransacked,” while 78 staff members of the Education Ministry and around 600 police officers and gendarmes have been injured, according to the education minister.

The minister also said 170 students had been injured since the protests began.

A 15-year-old high school student was seriously injured in the hand Monday after picking up a police grenade during a student protest in the northern French city of Lens, according to local media reports.

In a separate incident linked to the student protests, a 17-year-old student was taken into police custody in Aix-en-Provence on Monday over the alleged throwing of a stone that struck a passerby in the eye last Thursday.

Bruno Retailleau, president of the Republicans party, called for changes to France's juvenile justice system, proposing lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 15.

The French Human Rights League accused law enforcement of a broader "drift away from the rule of law" and failing to respect legal standards during police interventions against protesting students.

Five investigations have been opened by France’s General Inspectorate of the National Police into incidents linked to the mobilization.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu is seeking to ease the crisis by putting forward five proposals and has called for decisions to be reached before the end of October.