French police arrest over 5,000 as high school protests and blockades cause hundreds of injuries

Scale of protests and school blockades

High school students across France have staged widespread demonstrations and school blockades throughout the week, disrupting hundreds of secondary institutions. Mobilizations reached a peak on Thursday, when more than 1,000 schools experienced protests and 222 were completely blocked. Disruption continued into Friday, October 2, affecting 735 institutions, a 30% decline compared to previous days. Local prefects responded to the unrest by banning gatherings in the immediate perimeter around shuttered establishments. The demonstrations have affected towns and cities across the country, including Nantes, Belfort, Aubervilliers, and Niort, where students attempted to block the Lycée Paul-Guérin.

Clashes, injuries and police oversight

The escalation in protests led to confrontations, property destruction, and hundreds of casualties among both demonstrators and security forces. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez stated that urban violence occurred near 158 secondary schools, involving projectile throwing and attacks against police, teachers, journalists, and pedestrians. On Thursday alone, 305 police officers and gendarmes sustained injuries, and authorities in Belfort launched an investigation into the attempted intentional homicide of an officer. Education Minister Édouard Geffray reported that 170 students and 65 school staff members were injured across the week, with more than 100 high schools suffering severe property damage, including an arson fire at a high school in Nantes.

Police recorded over 5,000 arrests since the beginning of the demonstrations, with 1,747 taken into custody on Friday alone. The National Police defended its operational posture, asserting that officers intervened against mobile individuals carrying makeshift weapons such as scaffolding poles, axes, and Molotov cocktails. The police watchdog, the IGPN, opened five investigations into injuries caused by defense ball launchers (LBD) and grenades, while the Defender of Rights opened an inquiry in Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône. National Police spokeswoman Agathe Foucault defended the conduct of law enforcement officers during a broadcast interview.

Five IGPN investigations out of 5,000 arrests is a very low ratio.

Union demands and government response

Student unions organizing the blockades emphasized that violent individuals operate outside the organized youth movement and called for peaceful actions. Union representatives met with Education Minister Édouard Geffray on Friday to present demands for expanded education budgets, emergency regional investment packages, structural repairs for school facilities, and guaranteed teacher staffing allocations. Union officials left the discussions unsatisfied, stating that the ministry offered only vague promises of long-term review without immediate guarantees for teaching resources. Louis Letoublon, vice president of the Les Lycéens! union, criticized the way violence has shifted public attention away from classroom conditions.

We denounce the violence and find it unfortunate that it overshadows our demands.

Next steps and planned mobilizations

Student committees and local assemblies have begun organizing to coordinate actions across regional departments, particularly in Seine-Saint-Denis. Pupils at the Lycée Le Corbusier in Aubervilliers held coordination meetings to prepare joint blockades and maintain pressure ahead of the French presidential election scheduled in six months. High school union leaders announced a renewed nationwide day of mobilization for Tuesday, October 6, urging students to organize general assemblies and maintain peaceful pickets outside educational institutions across the country.