Since late September, students have blocked entrances at hundreds of French lycées, turning school gates into flashpoints in a wider dispute over education. About one hundred directors have been injured, as have teachers and other education workers. Official statements cited by Reuters put the broader toll at at least 215 injured teenagers and 85 injured education employees. The unrest is one of the most serious episodes of damage to the school system in decades. Clashes with police and violence inside or near schools have left teachers torn between supporting student demands and fearing threats or physical attacks.
Cyril Coupaud, head of Parc des Loges secondary school in Évry-Courcouronnes, says aggressive protests and Government decisions have deepened the crisis instead of calming it.
The damage extends well beyond blocked entrances or cancelled lessons. Images shared on social media have shown threats against school directors and teachers. Some education workers have suffered serious assaults.
The protesters have demanded more teachers and lighter timetables. They also want better-maintained school buildings, including classrooms.
One of the clearest examples involved Thierry Laurent, a Physics and Chemistry teacher. A student threw gasoline at him, then kicked him. Other education officials were hurt by fireworks. Bystanders’ pushing caused further injuries during the demonstrations.
The disorder has not involved students alone. Virginie Aklioutat, the FSU secretary general in Marseille, says other young people have also taken part. That distinction separates the campaign over education from the wider violence surrounding parts of the protests.
France 24 reported that police used tear gas and water cannon after attacks with stones and improvised fireworks. In Bordeaux, a lycée was ransacked and a police station was targeted. A deputy head was assaulted in Marseille.
Inside schools, the political divide is harder to draw.
Natalia Ruiz, a Spanish teacher in Saint-Denis, supports the students’ actions and has tried to protect pupils from riot police. Ketty Valcke, a History and Geography teacher in Paris, says the students’ complaints overlap with teachers’ own concerns.
The French Education Ministry said 24 of the 735 schools affected by the protests were set on fire or looted.
The complaints are specific. They focus on the university selection system and poor timetable organisation. Staff also cite teacher shortages and overcrowded classrooms. Those pressures have won the protests support inside the education system, even as threats and attacks frighten the people expected to keep schools open.
The Government tried to answer the mobilisation with a half-day devoted to educational democracy. Student blockades prevented the event from taking place. The move was poorly received, leaving ministers without a visible way to address grievances before the next test.
Safety failures forced authorities to suspend classes in as many as 400 to 500 schools. Some closed fully, others partially, because basic safety conditions could not be guaranteed.
The number later fell. By 10 October 2026, around 140 of France’s 3,500 lycées were still fully or partially closed. Clashes and tear gas continued as protesters kept demanding additional resources, information from the BBC and Euronews.
The Government also announced an emergency staffing response. Education Minister Édouard Geffray said about 3,000 substitute teachers would go to roughly 500 lycées facing the most acute shortages.
The plan targets the staffing problem basic to the mobilisation. But it has not settled disputes over schedules, classroom capacity or the condition of school buildings.
Mobilised sectors want more resources for public education and oppose cuts that could affect schools and staff. On 6 October, about 250,000 people took part in a nationwide action. Teachers and trade unions joined the protest; students had already driven the school blockades. NPR reported that participants cited chronic staff shortages and inadequate facilities.
More than 5,000 people were detained during the unrest. Around 87% were minors. Authorities also reported injuries among hundreds of police officers.
The announced strike and demonstrations are set to test Sébastien Lecornu’s Government and Emmanuel Macron as they respond to the social crisis. The pressure fits a wider pattern in which public institutions bear the effects of disputes they have failed to resolve. Earlier coverage examined a comparable escalation of political and social pressure in Spain.
The Government has sought to separate students’ education demands from street violence. France 24 cited Interior Ministry statements that some participants joined disorder outside the original school actions. The ministry said tens of thousands of people took part in that activity.
That position lets ministers condemn attacks while presenting the staffing response as an answer to legitimate grievances. The immediate pressure remains inside schools: by 10 October 2026, closures had fallen to around 140 of France’s 3,500 lycées.
