PARIS — French police detained about 440 people, most of them minors, on Tuesday as a wave of student demonstrations over dilapidated schools and teacher shortages turned violent across the country, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said, according to Reuters.
Education Minister Edouard Geffray told RTL radio on Wednesday that 76 people — students and school personnel — have been injured since the demonstrations began, as students continued protesting against crumbling buildings, insufficient resources and stressful exams. Television images showed lines of police officers in Lyon and students gathered outside schools in Lille and Saint-Denis, north of Paris, with garbage cans set on fire and projectiles thrown in some cities.
Nunez told broadcaster BFM that Tuesday’s clashes included seven incidents in which people threw hydrochloric acid at law enforcement officers. The Times of London reported that 48 police officers were injured.
The demonstrations and school blockades, which began last week in the Paris region, coincided on Tuesday with a broader public-sector strike. They have become a political flashpoint ahead of Thursday’s unveiling of the government’s 2027 budget, which is expected to include spending cuts aimed at easing pressure on public finances.
Students are demanding better conditions, more teachers and action on overcrowded classes. Politicians from the hard-left France Unbowed party have joined the demonstrations, while officials outside their camp have accused the party of rhetoric that stokes students’ anger — a charge its officials deny.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has condemned the violence while acknowledging that problems in high schools must be addressed, warning that any escalation would be “irresponsible.” Separately, the national police inspectorate opened an inquiry after a video circulated on social media appearing to show an officer firing a grenade launcher at close range at a student in a Paris suburb, according to Le Monde.
The unrest is adding pressure on Lecornu’s centre-right government, which is struggling to pass a cost-cutting budget in a hung parliament months before elections to choose President Emmanuel Macron’s successor.