Teachers, parents and students marched in dozens of French cities over school conditions. The interior ministry counted more than 250,000 people and 488 arrests, and the prime minister called the injury toll the heaviest in decades.
Demonstrations spread across France on Tuesday as high school students, teachers and parents protested school conditions, in what Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu called the most violent student demonstrations in decades.
Reuters said police used tear gas and water cannons against violent groups on the edges of marches in Paris, Strasbourg, Rennes and Toulouse. The interior ministry said the marches drew more than 250,000 people in dozens of cities. Organisers put the figure at 450,000.
Lecornu told lawmakers that at least 215 teenagers and 85 school staff had been injured, which he called the heaviest toll in decades paid by the school system. The interior ministry said 488 people had been arrested and 48 security personnel injured. Paris police said clashes in the capital involved about 300 mostly hooded or masked people and that several storefronts were damaged.
Students have complained since September about maintenance failures, including water leaks and rat infestations, at schools they say have been underfunded. Reuters noted the protests began in deprived suburbs of Paris before going nationwide, and that the government is trying to contain public debt after President Emmanuel Macron's allies lost their parliamentary majority in 2024.
No new school-funding law was announced in the accounts reviewed. The interior ministry's arrest and injury figures were the latest official tally published on Tuesday.
People Sentiments Negative
- Sebastien Lecornu told lawmakers the injury count was the heaviest toll in decades paid by the school system.
- Organisers said 450,000 people marched, above the interior ministry count of more than 250,000.