France suspends high school classes as protests intensify
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has suspended high school classes across the country for the rest of the week as protests demanding education reforms intensified, with police clashing with demonstrators in several cities.
Hundreds of thousands of students and activists took to the streets on Tuesday, demanding improvements to the education system, including replacing absent teachers, longer lunch breaks and changes to the length of the school day.
Authorities estimated the nationwide turnout at about 250,000, while organisers put the figure closer to 500,000.
The High School Students Union said nearly 2,000 high schools were blockaded or closed.
Protests in Strasbourg, Lyon and Rennes turned violent at times, with police firing tear gas while demonstrators set fires and threw projectiles.
Police also used tear gas against protesters blockading high schools.
The demonstrations, which began two weeks ago in some of Paris’ poorest suburbs, have spread nationwide, drawing support from farmers, energy workers, teachers and parents.
“Burning down a high school does not improve the state of high school buildings,” Lecornu said as he announced the suspension of classes.
He said the move was intended to give headteachers, teachers and pupils greater scope to address concerns over school conditions through “internal democracy”.
The prime minister also ordered ministers to respond to students’ demands by the end of October, including examining repairs to ageing school campuses.
The government has described the protests as having descended into urban violence, prompting the deployment of riot police at some demonstrations.
The Interior Ministry said 6,100 people had been arrested since the protests began, most of them under 18, while the Justice Ministry said more than 1,800 people would be prosecuted, including 1,483 minors.
Lecornu said at least 215 teenagers and 715 police officers had been injured during the protests.
On Monday, a 15-year-old lost his hand and part of his arm after picking up a police grenade during clashes in the northern city of Lens, according to French newspaper La Voix du Nord.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump waded into the unrest, attributing it to mass immigration and accusing Muslims of seeking to take over France, without providing evidence.
His remarks drew criticism from advocates who said such statements contribute to Islamophobic discourse ahead of the US midterm elections.