PARIS: Thousands of arrests, hundreds of injuries, schools set on fire in France. When the summer vacation ended and the new term started just a month ago, few could have imagined that the academic year would so quickly descend into nationwide student protests — and turmoil.
In a country beset by crises — both foreign and domestic — the eruption and rapid spread of protests by unhappy teenage high schoolers caught France off guard.
Friday brought more of the scenes that have dominated streets this week: vandalism, garbage fires, teens confronting and taunting police. Officers charging, firing tear gas and making more arrests. By early afternoon, the education ministry reported protests impacting 560 schools.
Taking grievances to France's streets has long been a rite of passage in the country that spawned the French Revolution of 1789. To name just a few, there were the student protests in 1968, weeks of suburban unrest in 2005 and demonstrations in 2023 against pension reforms.
The students now barricading high-school gates and demonstrating with placards have shown the know-how of veterans — down to wearing masks and goggles against police tear gas.
The timing of these protests — with France engaged in a presidential election race — sets them apart. Candidates campaigning to succeed President Emmanuel Macron in May have seized on the demonstrations as a hot political issue.
And although constitutionally barred from seeking a third consecutive term, Macron also joined the fray, speaking out against protest violence and political manipulation of the young demonstrators.
Here is what you need to know:
Demonstrations started in the Paris region
Protests first erupted last week in the Paris region and spread nationwide like wildfire, even to smaller towns.
High schoolers are expressing broad grievances — mainly, schools are under-resourced, with dilapidated facilities and insufficient staff. Still, spending on education is one of the costliest items in the state budget that Macron's government proposed this week, with 65.5 billion euros ($74 billion) set aside for schools in the next year. That's more than the proposed 63.4 billion euros for defense.
Students also complain that school days, which often start at 8 a.m., are too exhausting and the university entrance system too complex. Some university students also joined the protests this week.
Government says it's becoming rioting, not legitimate protests
Macron's government has repeatedly said that it respects the right to peaceful protest. But it also issued written orders for police to break up protests that block access to schools and to rapidly put a stop to violence and vandalism.
Riot police have liberally used tear gas, wielded their batons and made arrests to disperse crowds.
Police and school staff have been targeted with explosive fireworks and other injury-causing projectiles. The interior ministry says acid has been hurled in some cases, and that those intent on destruction and looting have grafted themselves onto the high schoolers' movement and behaved like "criminals and vandals," instead of "young people legitimately voicing their demands."
Police made more than 1,900 arrests on Thursday, when 305 officers were hurt, the ministry said.
The protests and confrontations continued Friday, and unrest also spread to neighboring Belgium where about a dozen schools closed in Liege, a day after violence in the city and six arrests there.
Protests come against backdrop of broader school concerns
There have been broader concerns in France that the schooling system is losing ground to those in other countries and failing in its mission to enable children from disadvantaged backgrounds to move up the social ladder.
Performance gaps are growing between highly advantaged and highly disadvantaged students, and overall scores in reading comprehension and mathematics have plunged, according to the latest PISA report, which evaluates students worldwide.
The government banned smartphones from high schools when the school year started in September, with officials arguing that banishing screens will improve learning. France this year also became the first country in the European Union to ban social media platforms for children under 15, but the country's top court struck down that measure.
Protests are impacting presidential election campaign
The unrest is sharpening political battle lines between presidential candidates.
Lleft candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon has positioned himself firmly on the side of the students and has decried police actions as "savagery" and repressive. Police crowd-control projectiles are suspected in some of the injuries that protesters have suffered.
Mélenchon's critics are accusing his France Unbowed party of stoking violence and seeking to score political points from the protests.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has called for broader police powers against rioters. Conservative former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, one of Le Pen's main challengers for the presidency, has condemned those who "break things, burn things, or assault people."