French students: What do they want?
From crumbling buildings, to absent teachers who are not replaced, to applying to university, FRANCE 24’s “Entre Nous” segment examines what has sparked the high school student demonstrations and if this protest movement is similar to the Yellow Vests mobilisation.
Around 450,000 people join demonstrations across France, protest organisers say
The organisers of Tuesday’s mass protests say 450,000 people – including 100,000 in Paris – have participated in protests across France.
French PM accuses hard-left party of sowing ‘chaos’ on biggest day of student protests
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has accused the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party of having a “political agenda” to “throw the country into chaos” ahead of next year’s presidential election and of “sowing chaos” since the start of the student protest movement.
“The reality is that you take an ambiguous stance on violence because violence is part of your political agenda to throw the country into chaos between now and the presidential election,” Lecornu has told the National Assembly.
“Lying about the government’s intentions won’t save you at the polls. Sowing chaos as you have been doing since the start of the high school student movement is a scandal,” he added.
France PM says ‘no room for tolerance of violence’ in school protests
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has said there can be “no room for tolerance of violence”, as tens of thousands of students took to the streets nationwide to protest at the state of schools.
“Burning down a high school does not improve the state of high school buildings. Lynching a teacher does not help replace teachers,” Lecornu has told the National Assembly, adding that it was a “lie” to suggest the government had ordered “police repression” against demonstrators.
Images: Students take to the streets in nationwide day of protests
Tens of thousands of demonstrators are marching in cities across France in support of protests by school pupils demanding more education funding, increasing pressure on the government of outgoing President Emmanuel Macron.
Photo: Tom Nicholson, Reuters
Photo: Tom Nicholson, Reuters
A protester holds a sign, “F… the RN,” referring to the far-right National Rally party, at a demonstration in Saint-Pierre in the Indian Ocean island of Reunion, a French overseas department, on October 6, 2026. (Photo: Richard Bouhet, AFP)
Around 260,000 people have joined protests outside Paris, workers union says
The CGT union estimates that 260,000 protesters have joined rallies across France, excluding those in Paris.
The Interior Ministry earlier put the figure at 86,000.
Police disperse Rennes protesters with water cannon
Riot police use water cannons as they face students during a protest against under-resourced schools in Rennes, western France, 
(©Jeremias Gonzalez)
As students protest, how dilapidated really are France’s school buildings?
As France’s student protest movement continues, one of the main grievances is the condition of the country’s schools, with many buildings severely dilapidated and, in some cases, posing dangerous risks. Oliver Farry reports.
Protesters clash with police in Strasbourg
‘There aren’t enough tables or chairs’: Protesters voice reasons for marching
“We just want better conditions,” Thomas, a 17-year-old high school student from the Val-de-Marne suburb outside of Paris, told AFP.
“Sometimes we go to class and there aren’t enough tables or chairs. Some days, if you’re the last one to arrive at the canteen, you end up with just a piece of bread and some water. Our toilets have no doors, no toilet paper, no soap,” he said.
Pascal Cabaret, a history teacher at a high school in Toulouse, said pupils and staff have the same demands. “A teacher to lead the class, well-maintained buildings, better working conditions,” he explained, adding that the movement is also a consequence of the successive heatwaves this summer.
“High schools just aren’t equipped to cope with those temperatures,” the 49-year-old told AFP.
“Instead of opening schools so they can hold general assemblies to tackle the issues at hand, schools are being closed and police are being pitted against students,” Emmanuelle, a parent from Strasbourg, told AFP.
“I can understand that some parents are afraid for their children because of the violence. But I think that our role as parents is to stand by them, to help ease the tension,” she said.
Classes cancelled in 891 of France’s 3,700 high schools
A total of 891 high schools out of the 3,700 across France saw their lessons “suspended, either completely or partially, for various reasons” on Tuesday, another day of protest by high school and university students across France, the Ministry of Education said in a statement sent to the press.
86,000 join protests cities and towns outside of Paris
France’s Ministry of the Interior reported that 86,000 protesters are demonstrating in several towns and cities across the country, not including Paris.
Protesters and police face off in Lyon and Strasbourg
French human rights institution ‘deeply concerned’ about ‘disproportionate use of force’ in protests
The Commission nationale consultative des droits de l’homme (CNCDH), France’s official independent national human rights institution, expressed “deep concern” over the “disproportionate use of force” in response to the high school protests, and called on the government “to strengthen dialogue with young people” and to “guarantee the exercise of their rights”.
“In its capacity as a national human rights institution”, the CNCDH said in a statement that “dealing with high school protests requires, above all, restraint, a willingness to listen and strict respect for fundamental freedoms”, and warned against “attempts to equate the entire movement with the unlawful acts of violence that may be committed on the fringes of demonstrations, and thereby justify heightened repression”.
Crowds gather for rally in Nantes
French high school and university students attend a demonstration in Nantes, northwest France as part of a nationwide day of protests and blockades.
(© Stephane Mahe, Reuters)
Paris mayor to open town halls for student gatherings
Paris’s socialist mayor, Emmanuel Grégoire, said the capital’s town halls will be opened to high school students to provide them with a space to mobilise, as he called on the government and the police prefecture to “prioritise de-escalation” during Tuesday’s protest.
Town halls are expected to open their doors in the coming days so high school students can come “to gather, debate, and democratically organise” their movement, Grégoire wrote in an open letter to the students sent to AFP.
“We cannot lament the lack of organisation among these young protestors while at the same time closing high schools and the venues where [their] general assemblies are held,” he wrote.
Protestors had been met “with nothing but contempt, tear gas, high school closures, and mockery — if not outlandish accusations of manipulation”, he added.
Interior minister has ‘every confidence’ in security forces
Laurent Nuñez, the Minister of the Interior, said he has “every confidence in the internal security forces to manage these various demonstrations”, in a radio interview with France Inter, even as police and gendarmerie are accused of using excessive force to contain demonstrations.
“I have instructed the prefects to ensure that law enforcement officers maintain a distance as long as the protests proceed peacefully (…) but, of course, they will intervene – and always with great firmness – if there is any vandalism,” he added.
High school union says record 1,800 lycées closed in ‘dark day’ for education
High school union l’Union Syndicale Lycéenne says that 1,800 lycées have either been blockaded or officially closed by the Ministry of Education on Tuesday – a record high for this wave of student protets.
Police are driving back protesters in east Paris preventing them from returning to the Lycée Hélène Boucher, FRANCE 24’s Paul Millar reports.
© Paul Millar, France 24
