PARIS (AP) — France’s prime minister called a crisis meeting Thursday and canceled ministers’ trips to focus on the nationwide spread of protests, some violent, by high school students denouncing a lack of resources, long work hours and other complaints.
Protests broke out at schools in the Paris region last week and have grown in scale, with police making hundreds of arrests during clashes with young protesters. The authorities reported several dozen injuries, notably due to thrown objects but also, in some suspicious cases, to anti-riot projectiles from the police.
The protests have quickly become a hot topic in the election campaign to replace President Emmanuel Macron, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a third consecutive term next May. They also increase pressure on the government, faced with France’s growing financial problems, and overshadow Thursday’s publication of its proposed cost-cutting budget for 2027.
At a Paris high school where students barricaded the entrance, Salama Gargouri, 18, said protesters wanted to attack “the overloaded schedules, the system, the teachers, the people who don’t listen to us, the university admissions process.”
In France, high school students often start classes at 8 a.m. and stay at school until late afternoon.
“Old people say: ‘Children, go to school from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day.’ But we don’t know what it does mentally,” said Janna Tahari, another Parisian high school student.
Arson, projectile throwing and other violence on the sidelines of certain demonstrations have caused a growing number of injuries and recriminations. The Interior Minister ordered the police to remove blockades preventing students from attending classes and to put an end to violence and vandalism.
Juliette Estiville, a Spanish teacher at the high school, said the crackdown on protests led her to join the students.
“So I’m here just to provide protection, to form a barrier between the police and the students,” she said. “And indeed, today it went well, it’s going well, but I really think that the teachers who come to the roadblocks are really just there to protect our young people.”
Education Minister Edouard Geffray said Thursday’s violence included the burning of a school and dousing staff with gasoline. He said he has given instructions for classes to take place remotely when blockages or damage to schools put students at risk.
“Violence will not deprive our students of their fundamental right to education,” Geffray said in an article on X.
Far-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon denounced the government’s response as repressive. His critics have accused Mélenchon’s party of inciting violence and using the unrest to score points ahead of the presidential election.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s office said it had asked ministers to cancel any official travel planned in the coming days, to allow authorities and police to focus on managing the protests.
Samuel Petrequin in Paris contributed to this report.
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