French school protests spread, with more than 2,000 arrests

France's wave of school protests has entered a third day of rioting, with hundreds of people injured, hundreds of schools shut and more than 2,000 arrests, as the Government accused the far left of stirring up young people.

The protests, led by students at lycees, the French equivalent of sixth-form colleges, began in the Creteil education authority east of Paris on 21 September and have since spread across the country.

The scale of the protests

By 1 October, 1,027 lycees had been affected, with 222 blockaded by students. University students joined in that day, with around 30 campuses blockaded. The Interior Ministry reported 1,949 arrests on 1 October alone, and more than 735 schools were shut by the following day.

Parts of the movement have turned violent, with fires set outside schools, attacks on staff and clashes with police. Damage in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region alone has been estimated at between 25 million and 30 million euros.

What the students want

Students have complained about missing teachers, classes of 32 to 35 pupils, long timetables and run-down buildings. Many are also frustrated with Parcoursup, the national online system for applying to university, which they say causes stress and uncertainty. Classrooms that reached 35C during this year's European heatwaves have also become a symbol of their complaints.

The Government's response

The Justice Minister, Gerald Darmanin, said the protests had "gone from high-school student demonstrations to a public order disturbance". Government ministers accused the far-left party La France Insoumise of inciting the unrest among young people, an accusation the party rejects.

Schools have been closed in some areas to protect students and staff and to stop blockades, and police have been deployed outside many schools.

A tradition of student protest

France has a long history of student protest, from the events of May 1968, when student demonstrations helped spark a national general strike, to repeated waves of lycee blockades over education reforms in the decades since. Teenagers blocking the entrances to their schools with bins and barriers is a familiar sight in French cities.

Unions representing lycee and university students have called a major day of protest for 6 October.

Pressure on schools

Teachers' unions have long warned about staff shortages, with many posts going unfilled and pupils missing lessons as a result. The French Government has faced pressure to cut public spending, which unions say has made it harder to recruit and keep teachers.

How it compares with Britain

Large-scale school blockades are rare in Britain, where pupils under 16 are required to attend school and sixth-form students have far less tradition of organised protest. But concerns about class sizes, teacher shortages and the state of school buildings are shared on both sides of the Channel. In England, hundreds of schools have had to deal with crumbling concrete and other building problems in recent years.

What happens next

The Government will be watching the 6 October protest closely. Ministers want to restore order quickly, while unions and opposition parties are calling for talks on the students' demands about class sizes, teacher numbers and school buildings.

Parents worried

Parents' associations have called for calm and asked both the Government and students to avoid violence, while saying that many of the young people's complaints about overcrowded classes and missing teachers are justified. Some families have kept children at home because of the disruption, and exam preparation for the baccalaureate, which students sit at the end of lycee, is a growing worry.