About 400 French schools closed as some student protests turn violent

• About 400 schools in France will remain closed on Oct 2 due to violent student protests over education issues, including teacher shortages and poor school conditions.
• Protests began in Paris and spread nationwide, causing injuries, hundreds of arrests, fires in schools, and clashes with police.
• Authorities claim hard-left politicians, including La France Insoumise members, initiated the protests, but this is denied by LFI lawmaker Louis Boyard.

PARIS – About 400 schools in France are expected to remain closed on Oct 2 after student protests that began over education-related grievances escalated into violence in some places.

“There are a little over 400 schools and other educational establishments that I know of that will be closed,” French Education Minister Edouard Geffray said in an interview with broadcaster France 2 late on Oct 1.

According to close to Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, intelligence agencies told a crisis meeting on Oct 1 that the protest movement had been initiated by politicians from the hard left, including members of La France Insoumise (LFI).

LFI lawmaker Louis Boyard denied the claim in comments to French broadcasters.

The protests against teacher shortages and dilapidated school buildings erupted in the Paris region in September but have turned increasingly violent as they spread nationwide, with dozens injured and police making hundreds of arrests.

Student protesters started fires in at least two high schools on Oct 1, while teachers were inadvertently splashed with petrol at a third in the southern city of Marseille, officials said.

At least one car was torched in Strasbourg in the east and riot police clashed with youths in Toulouse in the south-west. REUTERS