Over 400 French Schools Closed Monday Amid Student Protests

More than 400 schools in France will be closed or partially closed on Monday as authorities brace for a second week of student protests.

Education Minister Édouard Geffray stated that lessons will be totally or partly suspended in 400 to 500 schools because security conditions have not been fulfilled. Geffray reported that 24 schools have been burnt or ransacked, and 78 education staff members have been injured since the student unrest began last week. The number of school closures on Monday is comparable to Friday's figures.

Thousands of teenagers staged widespread demonstrations and erected barricades last week to protest against underfunding and neglect of the education system. Clashes with riot police led to more than 5,000 arrests, mostly of minors, and dozens injured. More than 600 police officers have also been injured. Damage to property is estimated in the tens of millions of euros.

The protests first erupted in the Paris region in mid-September at a school in Creteil, then spread nationwide. Students' grievances include overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages, dilapidated facilities, overlong school days, uncomfortable classroom temperatures, and pressures from France’s university admissions system. Geffray claimed that activists, particularly from the far-left, have infiltrated the high school student movement, hijacked it, and engaged in extreme violence.

He alleged that the injured education staff members were deliberately targeted. Protest organizers called for renewed demonstrations on Tuesday, citing the government's failure to produce concrete measures. Critics have accused some police of heavy-handed force against protesters, who are legally still children. Paris police chief Patrice Faure urged demonstrators to return to peaceful action and warned authorities would respond firmly to violence and vandalism.