France Braces for Fresh Student Demonstrations as Macron Calls for ‘Respect’
The education ministry said 3,000 substitute teachers are being deployed as police open 24 brutality probes and more than 6,800 people are detained.
- On Monday, October 12, 2026, 130 French high schools remained closed as student protests continued. President Emmanuel Macron urged demonstrators to act "calmly, in an orderly way," while education officials reported "the violence is intensifying" despite falling school closures.
- Students have spent recent weeks blocking school entrances to protest absent teachers, overcrowded classes, and dilapidated facilities. Last week, the government promised to deploy 3,000 substitute teachers to the 114 worst-affected high schools to address these grievances.
- The national students' union dismissed the teacher deployment as "crumbs," demanding a $11-billion boost for lycees. Police have opened internal investigations into 24 allegations of brutality against demonstrators since the movement began last month.
- Violence escalated Monday, with eight teaching staff injured, mostly in Paris, Bordeaux, and Lyon. Authorities noted fireworks fired through a tube injured two school workers in Reims and a police officer in Marseille.
- Student rallies are planned for Tuesday, ahead of wider public demonstrations against the rising cost of living expected on Saturday. Authorities hope the movement will ease ahead of half-term holidays.
22 Articles
22 Articles
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, called on the students this Monday to protest "in calm, in order", at the beginning of a new week of demonstrations to demand better conditions in the high schools.
Nationwide demonstrations by schoolchildren in France have been going on for three weeks now, protesting poor learning conditions. At times, the demonstrations have turned violent, and the government's various promises have not tamed the youth.
France braces for fresh student demonstrations as Macron calls for ‘respect’
Students have blocked entrances to hundreds of lycees — high schools for children 15 to 18 — since late September to rail against poor classroom conditions, with squads of riot police deployed and occasionally violent clashes erupting
They denounce the lack of replacement of teachers, overloaded hours, damaged classrooms and not adapted to climate change
When asked about the high school movement, Emmanuel Macron came back to the thorny question of school rhythms, and the tensions it raises.
The French high school students started a new week of mobilization with blockages of high schools throughout the country on Monday, before a big demonstration Tuesday for which Emmanuel Macron urges calm.
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