French High School Protests Spread to 356 Schools — Dozens Injured, Hundreds Detained

SAINT-DENIS, France — Dozens of people have been injured and hundreds — mostly teenagers — detained as student protests over teacher shortages and deteriorating school buildings spread to more high schools across France, officials said.

The demonstrations, which began last week and coincided with a wider public-sector strike on Tuesday, have become a political flashpoint and, in some places, have turned violent. Authorities say the protests now involve 356 high schools nationwide and show signs of organised agitation in certain locations.

The government is due to publish its 2027 budget on Thursday; officials expect it will include spending cuts intended to ease pressure on state finances — a context that opponents say heightens tensions over education funding.

French CRS riot police stand guard in front of the entrance of the Lycee Paul Eluard high school as students continue a blockade to demand the hiring of substitute teachers, increased resources and better learning conditions, in Saint-Denis, near Paris, France, September 30, 2026. REUTERS/Abdul Saboor

In Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, students stood outside school gates near a fire while police watched. Television footage from Lyon and Lille showed people hurling projectiles at lines of officers.

“There are cockroaches and rats everywhere in the school,” said Fadila, 17. She added that classroom temperatures could swing from stifling heat to near freezing depending on the weather.

SCORES INJURED OR DETAINED

The OECD Global Policy Forum notes that French spending on education was around the middle among OECD countries and rose between 2015 and 2022, although its share of total public spending has edged down slightly.

France's Education Minister, Édouard Geffray, told reporters that 119 people — both students and school staff — had been injured since the protests began, with many affected staff members being principals and teachers.

A student holds a placard reading "Golden offices for you, dilapidated high schools for us" outside the Lycee Paul Eluard high school as students continue a blockade to demand the hiring of substitute teachers, increased resources and better learning conditions, in Saint-Denis, near Paris, France, September 30, 2026. REUTERS/Abdul Saboor

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said roughly 625 people were detained on Wednesday and more than 440 the day before, the majority minors. He also reported seven incidents in which hydrochloric acid was thrown at law enforcement officers and accused far-left groups of moving between schools to agitate students.

Members of the hard-left party La France Insoumise (often translated as "France Unbowed"), including Saint-Denis Mayor Bally Bagayoko, have joined some demonstrations. Other officials have criticised the party for inflammatory rhetoric they say has stoked unrest.

The government has condemned violent acts at some protests while acknowledging that problems in high schools — from staffing shortages to crumbling facilities — must be addressed. “High schools are meant to be open and to share knowledge. They are not meant to be blockaded or to have trash cans set on fire,” President Emmanuel Macron said while speaking in Madrid.

Students from historically working-class suburbs say they feel neglected compared with peers elsewhere. “It's always us ... who are suffering,” said Gamze, 17, a student in Saint-Denis.

The protests are likely to shape public debate around the forthcoming budget and could put additional pressure on policymakers to respond to long-standing school infrastructure and staffing problems.