France Braces for Escalating Protests as Unions Join Students

Tens of thousands of people are expected to demonstrate across Paris on Tuesday as France’s major trade unions prepare to join far-left student protests that have been marked by violence and repeated confrontations with police.

Since late September, students have blockaded the entrances of hundreds of secondary schools attended by 15- to 17-year-olds. They are protesting staff shortages, overcrowded schedules, deteriorating classrooms and school buildings ill-equipped to cope with increasingly high temperatures.

The campaign has escalated rapidly, with protesters setting fire to rubbish bins, torching bus shelters and confronting riot police. Officers have used batons, tear gas and riot-control projectiles in response.

The French government says 215 students and 715 police officers have been injured since the protests began. On Monday, a 15-year-old reportedly lost a hand after picking up a sting-ball grenade fired by riot officers.

Video from the scene showed several people trying to help the teenager as he lay on the pavement. His left hand appeared to have been severed, leaving a bloodied stump.

People could be heard screaming in the footage, while the injured boy was later seen making his way slowly away from the area.

Some reports suggested the teenager may have suffered an injury extending as far as his elbow, although that detail has not been independently confirmed.

The unrest comes only months before the 2027 presidential election, when voters will choose a successor to centrist President Emmanuel Macron, who is barred from seeking a third consecutive term.

Further demonstrations are planned nationwide on Tuesday. According to France’s education ministry and a student union, teaching has been disrupted at 589 of the country’s 3,700 lycees—the equivalent of British sixth-form colleges—as well as at 32 universities.

On Monday, hard-left rioters also set fire to the entrance of a Paris school, reportedly trapping teachers and pupils inside the building.

Footage filmed outside Vauquelin High School showed masked demonstrators setting fire to the entrance as unrest spread through the capital.

Through shattered glass, flames could be seen spreading across the front doors. The fire appeared to have started at a barricade blocking the entrance.

Moments later, two men inside the school were filmed using fire extinguishers in an unsuccessful attempt to contain the blaze.

The fire intensified as people outside continued throwing objects onto the barricade, helping to feed the flames.

Local media reported that about 100 students had to be evacuated. Firefighters were allegedly targeted with fireworks while attempting to tackle the blaze.

Carole Zerbib, the school’s head, said the building had been targeted by a “very determined” group wearing hoods and masks. She said the attackers attempted to force their way through the main entrance before starting the fire.

The school is one of hundreds affected by violence that has plagued France since last week.

Many educational institutes will begin a second week of closures ahead of a nationwide day of demonstrations today.

In Lille, northern France, Gaston Berger high school was blockaded on Monday morning. Students were seen gathering around a large bonfire.

And over in Caen, north-west France, the gate of Victor Hugo high school was set alight. Rioters appeared to have thrown bins and other large items into a pile before setting it on fire.

In central Paris, dozens of teenage students demonstrated outside a school while passing cars honked their horns. Some classmates made their way inside to attend lessons.

‘We’re missing our lessons to give you one,’ read one cardboard sign outside the Turgot high school in Paris’s third arrondissement.

In Bordeaux, in the south-west, some students returned to the classroom while others continued to demonstrate in front of riot police.

Some protesters outside the Gustave Eiffel high school aimed fireworks at police, who responded sporadically with tear gas.

Authorities are expecting some 20,000 to 40,000 demonstrators in Paris on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s office has called for ‘peaceful’ gatherings, calling for a return to ‘a structured, legal and democratic form of opposition’.

The head of the CGT labour union Sophie Binet has said its members would be there to ‘protect high-school students’.

Several unions have accused the police of using disproportionate force against the protesters.

The police have launched ten internal investigations into allegations of brutality since they started, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said late Monday.

The government has sought to address the grievances, while accusing hard-Left activists of having hijacked the protest movement.

Since the start of the movement, 24 schools have been burned or ransacked, according to the education minister.

More than 5,000 people, 87 per cent of them minors, have been arrested. Lecornu’s office said 85 teaching staff have also been injured.

The prime minister has sought to address the issue of missing teachers and renovating buildings that are dilapidated.

The government is also pushing legislation to make those responsible for damaging public property pay for repairs themselves, instead of using public funds.

Mr Lecornu has said the draft law could allow compensation payments to be recovered from family allowances and housing benefits while ensuring a minimum income.

Union leader Ms Binet has said it would ‘end up targeting the most vulnerable families’.