2026 French student protests

2026 French student protests
Part of the Gen Z protests and the 2026 European unrest
Left to right and top to bottom: Paris students protest at their high school; looting of a Chanel boutique in Paris; police in Perpignan; a protester carrying a République-Voltaire bus station sign; protestors atop the Monument à la République; graffiti calling for Emmanuel Macron to resign with ACAB and hammer and sickle underneath.
Date	18 September 2026 (2026-09-18) – present (37 days)
Location	France
Caused by	Social and public investment budget cuts; teacher and staff shortages; overcrowded classes; dilapidated buildings and infrastructure; overloaded timetables; deficient undergraduate admissions web system "Parcoursup"
Methods	Arson, demonstrations, occupations, vandalism, riots, looting, internet activism, student activism, strike actions
Status	Ongoing
Parties
Lycée student protestors Gilets jaunes Student unions Les Lycéens! Student Union Union Syndicale Lycéenne Muslim students of France Union of Communist Students National High School Student Movement Mouvement Jeunes Communistes de France Teacher unions FSU SNALC Labour organizations FO CGT UNSA CFDT CFTC Solidaires Confédération Paysanne Political parties French Communist Party La France Insoumise Government Ministry of the Interior National Police Paris Police Prefecture CRS National Gendarmerie Mobile Gendarmerie Ministry of Armed Forces French Armed Forces National Guard Paris Fire Brigade Municipal governments Municipal Police
Lead figures
Ryad Rani (USL) Emmanuel Macron Sébastien Lecornu Édouard Geffray Laurent Nuñez Catherine Vautrin Fabien Mandon
Casualties and losses
Demonstrators: 248 students and 149 educators injured, with six seriously injured. One demonstrator died after going into cardiac arrest in Paris. Police officers: 1,000 injured on 17 October, seven seriously. One police officer was struck and killed by a vehicle in Nantes on 17 October.
As of 22 October 2026: 2,700 people have been arrested across France, more than 1,000 have appeared in court, and 217 have been jailed after being convicted in fast-track trials, according to the French Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin.

Demonstrations and protests against poor school and economic conditions by lycée (high school) students have taken place in France since September 2026. In early October, the protests developed into a nationwide mobilisation involving students, teachers, parents, political organizations and trade unions, with an estimated 550,000–800,000 people participating nationwide. The demonstrations are part of a wider European unrest which includes protests in Belgium, Albania, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Austria, Ireland, Serbia and Germany.

The movement is marked by demonstrations and high school blockades. Explaining the protests, students have cited teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms, run-down buildings, and limited public investment in social programs and infrastructure. Students noted stress linked to the university application website Parcoursup and high temperatures in classrooms that reached up to 40 °C (104 °F) during the 2026 European heatwaves. Protesters in France and across Europe complained of high inflation, rents, fuel costs, and unemployment, coupled with social spending cuts.

The initial police response used a variety of forceful crowd-control weapons, resulting in serious injuries, including to children, and violent conflict between police and protestors have led to 6,800 arrests, most of them of minors. The French government has accused the far-left of stirring up the unrest for political gain. Protesters said the movement was spontaneous and accused the government and right-wing parties of conspiratorial thinking.

The police response drew criticism from human rights organisations: Amnesty International denounced a "disproportionate" use of force, Human Rights Watch reported serious injuries to children, and the UN Human Rights Office expressed concern, "[calling] on everyone to ensure that the protests in France remained peaceful and that there is no disproportionate use of force". The government rejected accusations of police repression, with Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez maintaining that the response had been proportionate in almost all cases and that some protests had turned into riots.

Background

Study conditions and government budget

The protests came at the start of the school year and at the same time as a public-sector strike over the government's budget plans, which include €61 billion in new spending cuts. Students cited unfilled teaching posts, overcrowded classes, long timetables and deteriorating facilities among their grievances. A 17-year-old pupil at the Lycée Paul-Éluard in Saint-Denis described temporary toilets without water, rats and cockroaches in school, and temperatures ranging from −5 °C in winter to 40 °C in summer in temporary classrooms. Another pupil described rooms with too few tables, noting that teachers had explained their own discontent before the pupils decided to join them. Ryad Rani, president of the secondary-students' union Union Syndicale Lycéenne (USL), cited a pupil who had gone seven months without a French teacher in a year with a French exam, and classes of 32 to 36 students. Pupils elsewhere told ICI of classes of 35.

High fuel costs, rents, general inflation, unemployment, and government spending cuts have motivated protestors both in France and across Europe.

The Créteil rectorat told Agence France-Presse that demands still varied by school: teachers not replaced, class size, heavy timetables, shortages of education assistants, nurses, social workers and managers, incidents between pupils and teachers left without follow-up, and deficient undergraduate admissions web portal "Parcoursup". France Info summarised what it was hearing from pupils as more resources, smaller classes, buildings in better condition, enough teachers and staff, and less stress from Parcoursup.

Previous protests

In autumn 1990, lycée students, many from working-class Paris suburbs, protested over safety, cleanliness, staffing and materials. The protests reached on the order of 100,000 people in Paris and about 150,000 nationwide. Education minister Lionel Jospin answered with an emergency plan and an increase in the education budget.

In early 2005, lycée students and their teachers mobilised against reforms to the education system made by François Fillon, and in particular against a reform of the baccalauréat that they believed would lead to greater inequalities in the value of diplomas from different schools. Between 15,000 and 40,000 students took part in the protests. Fillon backed down and announced a government amendment removing changes to the baccalauréat from the bill.

In spring 2018, opposition to the ORE law and to the new Parcoursup platform was carried mainly by university occupations. Lycée blockades were scattered. In the autumn, lycée students mobilised again, against Parcoursup and against Jean-Michel Blanquer's baccalauréat reform. On 11 December, hundreds of establishments were blocked or badly disrupted. Le Monde diplomatique later wrote that this map could not be explained only by the knock-on effect of the yellow vests protests, then at their height, but that the Yellow Vest movement was part of the context. Parcoursup was kept, with some adjustments, and the baccalauréat reform went ahead.

Emergence of the protests

Beginning with September 2026 and the new school year, several issues with the school infrastructure prompted students in French Guiana to block the Felix Éboué high school in Cayenne to denounce poor learning conditions. In Mayotte, parents together with teachers and students have been blocking access to the lycee of the North of Acoua since the end of August, a movement which was "largely ignored" by mass media in metropolitan France.

In metropolitan France, the mobilisation began on 21 September at the Lycée Antoine-de-Saint-Exupéry in Créteil, a commune in the suburbs of Paris. The day after a teachers' strike on 17 September against lack of resources and staff, pupils organised a protest. Pupils said they felt neglected by the Ministry of National Education and cited lack of resources and staff, overcrowded classes, and rooms short of tables.

An academic source and the USL later presented that mobilisation as the start of the national movement.

Contemporaneous reports, including Le Monde and a 24 September account by actu.fr, dated the spreading movement to Monday 21 September at the same lycée, where several teaching posts were unfilled. The Créteil rectorate said on 24 September that demands still varied by school.

Through 25 September the spread stayed local. Actu.fr said about 10 lycées were affected by 24 September, mainly in Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne, and described a copycat effect on social networks. That morning, pupils tried to block the entrance of the Lycée Auguste-Blanqui in Saint-Ouen until late morning. An academy spokesperson told AFP there had been a gathering and material damage but no injuries. Police dispersed the crowd without incident.

On 25 September the Créteil rectorate said the movement was gaining momentum and counted "a good dozen" lycées blocked, above all in Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne. It said some mobilisations had produced crowds and material damage. The Versailles rectorate reported disruption at three of 62 lycées in Essonne and mobilisations at five of 65 in Hauts-de-Seine. Le Monde later wrote that about 60 Paris-region lycées were disrupted on 24 and 25 September, that about 12 percent of the 468 public lycées saw attempted blockades, and that around 10 were actually blocked. Rani told AFP that it had started at Saint-Exupéry and "spread very quickly", and cited shortages of education assistants, nurses and social workers.

Organization

Banner at a protest: "Sorry to bother you, we just want a future"

The USL's national call, for 29 September, named four grievances: lack of teachers and staff, "dilapidated lycées", overloaded timetables and classes, and the stress caused by Parcoursup. Rani said classes sometimes held 32 to 35 pupils and asked protesters to remain peaceful. The union later called a second day on 1 October, an "act two", and a further day of action on 6 October. On RTL on 30 September, Rani said dialogue bodies run by the ministry had been "abandoned", and that it was for the minister to take the first step. Following their meeting with Education Minister Édouard Geffray on 2 October, student union leaders voiced their dissatisfaction with the government's response and called for the mobilisation to continue. The USL announced further demonstrations for 6 October, with several trade-union confederations, including the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), announcing that they would join the action. Other supporting trade union confederations included the Workers' Force (FO), National Union of Autonomous Trade Unions (UNSA), French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT), Solidaires, French Confederation of Christian Workers (CFTC), and the Confédération Paysanne. The teachers' unions Unitary Trade Union Federation (FSU) and National Union of Independent Colleges and High Schools (SNALC) called for strikes and supported the protests as well.

Other lycée student unions supporting student mobilization and protests included the National High School Student Movement, the Student Union, and the "Les Lycéens!" union.

Participating and supporting organisations

Students march between Place de la République and Place de la Nation in Paris, 6 October

The Union syndicale lycéenne and Union étudiante called for joint mobilisation by secondary-school and university students on 1 October. Reporting on the demonstrations that day, Le Monde described a heterogeneous movement involving students seeking improved educational conditions as well as people involved in confrontations. It also reported that some participants were not pupils of the schools outside which they gathered.

La France Insoumise representatives attended demonstrations. Jean-Luc Mélenchon stated that the party supported nonviolent protest.

Muslim Students of France (French: Étudiants musulmans de France, EMF) also supported the mobilisation. According to Le Point, the association and its local branches circulated calls for action from 5 to 9 October, while its Belfort branch had joined a demonstration alongside secondary-school students on 1 October. The magazine reported that EMF cooperated with RED Jeunes, with which it had co-founded the anti-Islamophobia collective Génération EDR in March 2025.

Timeline

28–30 September

On 28 September, Lecornu said escalation would be "irresponsible" and wrote that fireworks, fires, and violence near high schools endangered pupils, staff, and police. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 164 people had been arrested that day, 180 schools were affected, and 12 security officers, 12 students, and three staff were injured.

On 29 September, the Education Ministry said about 400 of the roughly 3,700 lycées were disrupted. Nuñez told BFM TV that 440 people had been detained, most of them minors. CNN published photographs of police firing tear gas at the Lycée César-Baggio in Lille. In Saint-Denis, La France Insoumise (LFI) mayor Bally Bagayoko stood with pupils outside the Lycée Paul-Éluard. On BFM on 29 September he said that violence could, at a given moment, be legitimate. On 30 September, Paris police prefect Patrice Faure referred him to the Bobigny prosecutor, under article 40 of the French code of criminal procedure, for suspected provocation to commit an offence. On 1 October, Bagayoko told franceinfo that he stood by the remarks and called for de-escalation. Jean-Luc Mélenchon wrote that the pupils were harmless, that the crackdown had a racist undertone, and that LFI activists should "step in" between pupils and police.

On 30 September, Nuñez said 625 people were detained, 83 police and gendarmes were wounded, and 356 schools were affected. He described projectiles, attempted arson, and what he called urban violence. Education Minister Édouard Geffray said 119 pupils and staff had been injured since the protests began. In Tours, a young person was hospitalised with head injuries.

1 October

On 1 October, university students joined the blockades. The Union étudiante reported about 30 campus blockades, including Paris Cité, Sorbonne University, Strasbourg, Montpellier, Lyon, and Rennes. France Info added Sciences Po Rennes, the University of Rennes and the Université de Bretagne-Occidentale, and said students at the University of Montpellier Paul Valéry and Aix-Marseille University were mobilised. Police counts that morning were lower than the evening total: 340 actions and 169 blockades by mid-morning, according to franceinfo. The evening Interior Ministry figure was 1,027 lycées affected, 222 blockaded, and 1,949 arrests. The Guardian reported nearly 3,000 lycée students detained since the start, including the Thursday figure.

Lecornu held an interministerial crisis meeting and told ministers to cancel travel. His office said the violence made it nearly impossible to keep schools open safely, and that intelligence services described the movement as "an operation organised by LFI and its proxies on the far left". LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard said the government was "sinking into conspiracism" and called the mobilisation spontaneous.

Geffray ordered remote classes in areas where damage or blockages made buildings unsafe, and said that slightly over 400 establishments would be closed on 2 October. That evening the Interior Ministry said prefects had banned demonstrations outside the closed lycées. Paris police prefect Patrice Faure banned gatherings at 13 closed Paris schools.

2 October

Police at a protest in Perpignan, 2 October

About 400 of France's roughly 3,700 lycées were closed on the orders of the prefects, with many switching to distance learning. Every prefect banned gatherings outside lycées closed that day. In Paris, the prefect of police, Patrice Faure, banned gatherings around 13 named closed lycées.

By midday, the Ministry of National Education said 564 establishments "have been or are the subject of actions or disruptions since the start of the day". The Île-de-France region said 55 lycées were "the scene of violence, clashes and damage". Mobilisation was widely reported to be lower than on 1 October, but fires, fireworks, and clashes continued.

On BFM TV that morning, Education Minister Édouard Geffray said 1,207 lycées had been disrupted or blockaded on Thursday, that more than 100 had suffered "severe damage" since the start of the week, and that 65 education staff had been injured, including 40 headteachers. He said a staff flat in a Lyon lycée had been ransacked by people from outside the school, repeated that the movement had been "taken hostage by ultra-violent groups", and told parents that "in the street, children are in danger". At 09:00, he met with education unions, the Union syndicale lycéenne, parents' groups, and elected members of the Conseil national de la vie lycéenne. After the meeting, SNES-FSU general secretary Sophie Vénétitay said there were still "no guarantees" and called a strike for the following Tuesday in support of the lycée demands. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin told prosecutors to seek parental civil liability so families would pay for damage caused by their children.

A bin fire spread to the façade of the lycée professionnel Gaston-Bachelard in the 13th arrondissement of Paris early in the morning; the entrance windows blew out, and the Brigade de sapeurs-pompiers de Paris extinguished the blaze at about 07:55. Firefighters also put out a fire at the gate of the lycée Léonard-de-Vinci in the 15th. BFM TV filmed the charred entrance door of the lycée Roger-Verlomme, also on the 15th; Le Figaro reported that the fire followed a firework aimed at the door, that several bicycles burned, and that firefighters arrived within about two minutes. Le Parisien reported fireworks outside the lycée professionnel Beaugrenelle on rue Saint-Charles and a pallet-and-bin fire that firefighters put out shortly before 09:00. An Île-de-France regional employee was injured and treated by firefighters at the lycée Molière in the 16th arrondissement. Around midday, a barricade of bins was burning at Place de la Nation, and police used tear gas. The Île-de-France region also listed a serious fire at the lycée Henri-Moissan in Meaux. RTL quoted the headteacher as saying the façade, entrance hall, part of the canteen and some boarding rooms had burned, and that the damage ran into millions of euros. France Télévisions authenticated images of a fire outside a school in Montigny-lès-Metz.

High school student mobilization day in Perpignan

At the lycée Bougainville in Nantes, fireworks and burning bins met the morning opening; police and CRS cleared several blockade attempts around 08:00, and Le Figaro reported 10 arrests nearby, one of a youth carrying a metal bar. In Rennes, bin-and-barrier barricades blocked traffic near the lycée Jean-Macé from about 08:30, with further tensions at Émile-Zola and Joliot-Curie; Agence France-Presse reported a barricade and a Palestinian flag on a main road. In Quimper, police used tear gas to disperse a blockade of several hundred people at the lycée Chaptal.

In Lyon, fireworks around 10:00 led to tear gas in the Foch district beside the lycée Édouard-Herriot; 44 establishments in the Rhône were closed, and a crowd remained outside the still-open lycée Ampère. In the Bordeaux academy, 18 lycées were closed and about 6,000 pupils were reported mobilised in Bordeaux, Mérignac, Bègles, Langon and Libourne; the authorities reported five police officers, one firefighter and four pupils injured, and two teachers confronted at their schools. In the Drôme, Agence France-Presse reported nine arrests and a policewoman injured in the knee during an intervention at a Montélimar lycée and taken to hospital. In Metz, ICI Lorraine reported fireworks and tear gas at the lycée Fabert early in the morning, one arrest outside the school, and a bin fire at the lycée professionnel Léonard-de-Vinci in Montigny-lès-Metz that licked the building before firefighters put it out. Further clashes and at least one arrest were reported at midday at the entrance of the university campus.

In Évreux, several hundred people gathered outside the lycée Aristide-Briand from 08:00 onward. Paris-Normandie reported a washing machine set alight, gates forced, windows broken and repeated fireworks, and quoted prefect Xavier Delarue denouncing "urban violence". France 3 Normandie reported that Delarue said groups had tried to force the entrance in order to burn the lycée, with Molotov cocktails and projectiles, and that the headteacher of another Évreux lycée said Aristide-Briand had suffered fireworks being used as projectiles and an intrusion that succeeded.

In La Ciotat, the local site Var Actu reported that a physics teacher at the lycée de la Méditerranée was hit in the face with the contents of a bottle described as containing petrol, briefly blinded, and then kicked, after he tried to put out a fire lit near a tree at about 08:25. It said the suspected teenager was caught and arrested. A live blog citing Le Figaro described the victim as the headteacher, "doused with petrol and beaten" while trying to calm a tense blockade.

A Friday claim that staff at the lycée Victor-Hugo in Marseille, beside Gare Saint-Charles, had been doused with petrol refers to Thursday 1 October, not a new attack. Franceinfo reported on 2 October that the lycée was closed after Thursday's clashes, that the entrance door was charred, and that the management team had been splashed with petrol. La Provence reported the rectorat's correction: the headteachers "were not directly targeted by youths who doused them" but were splashed while people poured petrol into bins. The Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region had said a headteacher, a deputy head, a general secretary and a team leader were attacked and doused. BFM Marseille reported that the prefecture and the rectorat said they would file a complaint, and that the damaged door had to be made safe.

Separately on 2 October, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said images of "rare violence" showed a police officer in Belfort deliberately targeted, thrown to the ground and beaten, including to the head, by masked people in black on the margins of the lycée blockades. The officer lost consciousness and was hospitalised; Nuñez said his condition was no longer a major concern. The Belfort prosecutor opened an investigation for attempted murder of a person holding public authority. Franceinfo's photograph of the intervention is dated 1 October, so the beating itself may predate the Friday announcement.

No national arrest totals for 2 October had been published by early afternoon. The latest Interior Ministry count remained Thursday's: 1,949 arrests, with 305 police and gendarmes injured that day, and 1,793 people placed in custody since Monday, about 90 percent of them minors.

5 October

On 5 October, 400 to 500 schools across France were partially or totally closed. Geffray said lessons were "totally or partly suspended" because security conditions "have not been fulfilled". He added that 24 schools had been "burned or ransacked" since the protests began.

During the high-school mobilisation, the Lycée des métiers Nicolas-Louis-Vauquelin in Paris's 13th arrondissement was targeted by a group of about ten youths wearing hoods, masks and black clothing. According to the head teacher, Carole Zerbib, and several pupils, the masked youths were not students at the school. It was the first call to blockade the school since the movement began.

Shortly before 8:00 a.m., as pupils were entering, fireworks were fired and a first fire was started in front of the metal door. Staff put that fire out. About 100 pupils were confined inside and moved upstairs. The group piled bins, bulky rubbish and bicycles against the entrance, brought over a sofa, smashed windows and tried to force the door, which held. After police and firefighters had left, the group returned around 9:00 a.m. and started two further fires at the doors with a flammable liquid, feeding them with the debris. Staff tried to extinguish the flames from inside, through the letter slot, and failed. Firefighters put out the last fire around 9:30 a.m. Pupils were evacuated shortly before 10:00 a.m. and sent home. The Paris education authority reported three fire starts, told parents not to come near the school, and classes were cancelled for the day.

At about 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. in Lens, outside the Lycée professionnel Auguste-Béhal, a 15-year-old pupil in seconde had his hand blown off by a police stun grenade during a blockade. Between 200 and 250 young people were gathered, and the prefect of Pas-de-Calais, François-Xavier Lauch, said some of them had thrown projectiles at police. Lauch and the prosecutor of Béthune, Étienne Thieffry, confirmed the injury, said the boy was taken to hospital in Lille, and said his life was not in danger. The IGPN was seized. A police source told Le Figaro that he had picked up a dispersal grenade thrown by the CRS in order to throw it back, and that it exploded in his hand. The authorities said the exact circumstances still had to be established.

6 October

On 6 October, the third nationwide day of mobilisation began, with high school students and university students joining demonstrations and blockades across France. Several high schools and university campuses were blocked from early morning, including the Sorbonne in Paris, while dozens of demonstrations were expected across the country. In Lyon, police dispersed masked people who had blocked a tramway, with early clashes reported. The mobilisation was also joined by education-sector and labour organisations, including the CGT. Fabien Roussel, national secretary of the French Communist Party (PCF), proposed the "Youth Plan 2027–2032" at a press conference (shortly before he left to join students on the streets), which, among many measures, included monetary contributions to hiring teachers and improving school infrastructure, decreasing school hours contributing to stress, and strengthening student democracy. Also attending were leaders of the Union of Communist Students and the Mouvement Jeunes Communistes de France.

Also, Bally Bagayoko, the mayor of Saint-Denis was seen shielding student protesters from riot police that were deploying tear gas into the crowd. He was later seen with other members of his team being administered eye drops due to them being gassed. He received mixed reactions for this act, public figures like Victor Wembanyama praised the acts of Bally Bagayoko, and the students; others, like Fox News, alleged that he was further inciting violence, and spreading communism and propaganda.

Teachers and parents participated in the movement. The High School Students Union stated that around 1,800 high schools were either blockaded or would close for the day, and protests were reported in Marseille, Nantes, and Lyon, where the demonstrations started peacefully.

• Protests on 6 October 2026
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  Bayonne
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  Belfort
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  Paris
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  Perpignan

7 October

Iran's ambassador was summoned to the French foreign ministry over what the latter described as a "disinformation campaign" conducted by official accounts of the Iranian foreign ministry. The rebuke came after Iran accused France of "extensive and flagrant human rights violations" by police and security forces during the protests.

8 October

On 8 October, the student movement held a fourth nationwide day of action. The Interior Ministry counted 71,500 participants at marches, including 24,500 in Paris. A further 55,000 young people took part in demonstrations outside schools, according to the report. Student and university organisations called a fifth day of action for 13 October.

13 October

For the fifth nationwide day of action, the Interior Ministry counted 161,500 participants nationally, while the youth inter-union estimated 480,000; the ministry counted 41,500 people in two Paris marches. Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg visited demonstrators outside Lycée Paul-Éluard in Saint-Denis. The Education Ministry said 214 schools were closed. Education Minister Édouard Geffray said the deployment of 3,000 substitute teachers to the most affected schools had begun.

16 October

By 16 October, Geffray said around 160 schools remained blocked, while he described roughly one-third of the 3,700 lycées as having been significantly disrupted during the movement. Student activists said the start of school holidays would remove blockades as a tactic, and planned to hold assemblies during the break.

17 October

Further information: 2026 French fuel protests and 17 October riots

The Hôtel de Ville in Limoges collapsing in flames

On 17 October, protests escalated as student organisations joined nationwide demonstrations against the cost of living, called by trade unions and the yellow vests movement. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 110 marches drew 550,000 participants, including 110,000 in Paris; organisers estimated 800,000. The Associated Press reported about 400 arrests during the day. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu later said 1,200 people had been arrested and 150 police officers and gendarmes injured.

Storefront of a Nébuleuse Bijoux location in Paris, after being looted

In Lyon, where about 20,000 people marched, hooded individuals were seen vandalising a branch of the tourist office, tearing letters from its sign and damaging the premises. The tourist office was set on fire by several individuals. A Euronews video report showed the fire. In Marseille, shops and a municipal police station were damaged, and protesters briefly entered the lobby of city hall.

A crowd gathering outside a looted shop

In Limoges, the historic Hôtel de Ville was set ablaze during the evening; the fire continued into the following morning and partially destroyed the 19th-century building. A Euronews video report showed the fire. A demonstrator lost a hand in Saint-Étienne; Nuñez said an investigation had opened and did not confirm reports that the injury was caused by a police grenade. In Paris, tens of thousands took part in the demonstration. The Associated Press reported that cars were set on fire and shops looted during clashes between police and groups of protesters. The protests were called over the cost of living and in support of students' grievances about school conditions. In spite of the violent incidents that occurred on the 17th, French authorities stated that the "vast majority" of protesters had been demonstrating peacefully.

18 October

By the morning, authorities reported that about 1,800 people had been arrested nationwide, including 855 in the Paris region, following clashes and looting during the previous day's demonstrations and overnight. The government planned an emergency meeting on the response and President Emmanuel Macron was due to address the public that evening. Macron did not blame the protesters, but the "unbridled violence on ultra-left factions and delinquents" taking advantage of the protests to damage private and public property.

19 October

On 19 October, the BBC reported that the Interior Ministry said about 2,400 people had been arrested and about 1,000 police officers injured, seven seriously, during Saturday's demonstrations. The BBC also reported that looting and clashes continued on a smaller scale in Paris and Lyon on Sunday, following demonstrations attended by about 550,000 people, which were mostly peaceful. Curfews were imposed in several cities, including Paris, with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu stating that they would be "partial" and "very locally limited" in scope.

22 October

On 22 October, city officials in Lyon and Marseille announced a complete ban on protests that Saturday (24 October), ostensibly to eliminate any potential for a repeat of the events that occurred on 17 October. Nice and Toulon announced similar bans. Macron announced his intention to ban all “illegitimate” protests. Even demonstrations from organizations deemed legitimate would have to be examined and approved before going ahead, and they could have their routes changed by the government. These bans and restrictions have faced public scrutiny for potentially infringing on the constitutionally-enshrined right to protest, and student groups vowed to continue organizing. An attempted ban on marches in Paris for 22 October was overturned by an administrative court.

23 October

During a press conference French Interior Minister Nuñez announces that about 70,000 police officers and gendarmes would be deployed, along with helicopters, armored vehicles, and water cannons in preparations for planned protests the next day. Additional statements were made by the Culture Ministry, that the Louvre, the Orsay and Picasso museums as well as the Grand Palais would be closed, while highlighting the need to ensure visitor and staff safety and preservation of the artworks. Art Basel Paris was opened to the public for the day, with planned protests resulting in the cancelation of the upcoming weekend program.

International

Main article: 2026 European unrest

Belgium

On 1 October, the mobilisation was echoed in Liège, Belgium. The Liège police said a call on social media brought pupils, at about 8 a.m., to five schools: the Athénée de Fragnée, Saint-Laurent, Saint-Sépulcre, Marie-Thérèse, and Liège-Atlas. The police said eggs, apples, barriers, and firecrackers were thrown at the schools and at officers, and that one member of a school's management was physically attacked. RTBF reported a fire near the Institut Marie-Thérèse, on rue Hors-Château, into which scooters and barriers were thrown, road signs and street furniture torn up, and some vehicles damaged. It reported that a glass door at the Collège Saint-Barthélemy was smashed with an iron bar, and that the Carrefour Express on rue Saint-Léonard was vandalised. The police told RTBF of five judicial arrests and one administrative arrest, and said there had been no further incident after 1 p.m. Rue Hors-Château, closed during the clashes, reopened at 2 p.m. after the city cleared the fire damage. Sudinfo reported schools vandalised and scooters set on fire. RTBF said the French mobilisation appeared to be spreading to Belgium. Pupils were filmed chanting "Glatigny, casse-toi", aimed at the French-speaking education minister. VRT NWS reported that free-network and municipal secondary schools in Liège would stay closed on 2 October for safety. At the Athénée Paul-Brusson in Montegnée, RTBF reported a quiet blockade in support of teachers, with no clash.

A fire near Brussels-Central railway station on 9 October during student protests

By 5 October, protests spread to other major cities in Wallonia such as Mons and Charleroi, as well as the Brussels-Capital Region. In Charleroi, 21 student protesters were arrested on 5 October who set fire to dumpsters using electric scooter batteries. Blockades were put before Athénée Charles Janssens in the Brussels municipality of Ixelles.

On 6 October, The New York Times reported that protests had spread to high schools in Belgium, where police dispersed peaceful protestors. Police spokesperson Jadranka Lozina accused students of vandalism.

On 7 October, riots gripped Liège, following earlier student protests, prompting authorities to close Liège-Guillemins railway station and urging local businesses to shut down.

Albania

See also: Flamingo Revolution and 2026 Albanian student protests

Starting on 13 October in Tirana, students rioted and set fires, including attacking the government building of the Ministry of Education. The situation escalated, with riot police being involved. RENEA units were deployed on the 17th. The protests were ongoing as of 22 October.

Argentina

On 15 October, students protested in Buenos Aires to decry President Javier Milei's budget cuts to education. The protest followed a similar incident in May, where an estimated 1.5 million protested nationwide on 15 October.

According to the Center for National Economic Research at the University of Buenos Aires, at the University of Buenos Aires, real public spending on universities fell by 41% in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, amid a dispute over the government's implementation of the University Funding Law.

Italy

Main article: 2026 Italian unrest

This section is an excerpt from 2026 European unrest § Italy.[edit]

A broken shopfront in Milan, Lombardy, after the riots

On 16 October, Italian students in major cities like Milan, Turin, Bologna, Genoa, Verona, Rome, and Bari started protesting, inspired by their French counterparts. The mobilization was denominated No Meloni Day, referring to Giorgia Meloni, the Prime Minister of Italy. Demonstrators protested against the conditions of Italian educational facilities, against the measures adopted by the government to limit the number of foreign students in classrooms, and demanded that the government start spending more on education and less on weapons.

In Rome, demonstrators threw firecrackers and cherry bombs in front of the Ministry of Education, calling for Giuseppe Valditara, the Italian Minister of Education, and asking him to "get out of the building". During the second day of the protest, 17 October, in Milan, Turin, and Bologna, small riots split off from the protests, which had developed to encompass general social and economic discontent. Milan saw increased cases of rioting, with many luxury storefronts reported looted.

The students' protest became part of a broader climate of social protest. The movement saw road haulers and farmers joining the protests and going on strike because of the high cost of diesel fuel and the rising of the already high cost of living. Severe fuel shortages were reported in Southern Italy, alongside empty shelves in supermarkets. In Apulia, students, road haulers, and farmers demonstrated together. Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini scheduled a meeting with representatives of road haulers for 20 October in Milan. Representatives of Calabrian road haulers have said that they won't stop striking and demonstrating if the confrontation with the government does not result in a satisfying outcome.

Greece

On 13 October, Greek students began protests in the Syntagma Square of Athens, which are centered around the issues of unaffordable prices of living for students, mainly in terms of student housing. Additionally protestors brought up complaints of the lack of funding for the public education system. Demonstrators erected tents outside of the Ministry of National Economy and Finance and the Hellenic Parliament, mainly as a blockade, but according to the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation the tents are also a comment about the condition of housing in Greece.

The organizers said that the tents were planned to stand for the following two days, and then a protest concert would be held the following week on 20 October.

Canada

On 17 October, a protest in solidarity with the students in France was held in Montreal, focusing on rising cost of living and police misconduct.

Other

Smaller protests have occurred in Austria, Ireland, Portugal, and Germany.

Incidents

Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis

Police firing tear gas during clashes at Porte Saint-Martin in Paris, 17 October

In Saint-Denis, the Lycée Paul-Éluard was closed after fires at the gates. CNN reported that fencing was torn down. Le Figaro reported soot on the bitumen, fire damage on the metal gates, and banners denouncing lack of resources and police violence. It said the Lycée Frédéric Bartholdi was also closed, that courses were cancelled, and that a handful of students from Paris 8 and Paris 13 remained after the lycée pupils had left. On 28 September, HuffPost reported clashes at the same lycée, with tear gas used against pupils, arrests, fireworks and other projectiles thrown at police. On 29 September, Paris Match reported bins set on fire in front of the gates, a call to the fire service, and two arrests at about 8:15 a.m. A CLPRESS video from the same morning showed a fence falling after pupils shook it. RMC reported that the principal of the Lycée Jean-Pierre-Timbaud in Aubervilliers was slightly burned by a firework, and that a principal in Val-de-Marne was grazed by a firework and shocked but not injured. On 17 October, a 17-year-old pupil had his right hand blown off with a crowd-control grenade in Saint-Etienne. In Pantin, BFM reported a fire lit in front of the Lycée Berthelot and fireworks fired at the pupils.

The Île-de-France regional authority said more than 200 lycées were disrupted, about 50 of them the scene of violence, and that about 30 gates or entrance locks had been damaged, at a cost it put above €1 million.

On 28 September in Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône, Val-d'Oise, a 14-year-old's lawyer, Elsa Marcel, said he had a double jaw fracture, broken upper teeth and several broken lower teeth, and that he required heavy surgery. The Défenseur des droits opened an inquiry. Nuñez said the IGPN had been asked to investigate injuries to lycée students in Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône, Sevran, and Tours.

Firefighters extinguish a burning car during riots in Paris, 17 October

In Paris, the prefecture of police said a young policewoman who had stopped to pick up a fallen radio was caught by several people, and kicked. The assault was filmed. She filed a complaint. The prefect said the acts were unspeakable.

Europe 1 reported that Ritchy Thibault, 23, a former parliamentary assistant to LFI deputy Ersilia Soudais, was arrested in Saint-Denis on 1 October during the blockades. On a video filmed by a participant, he told the crowd that 17 October would be "a thousand times worse than the Yellow Vests", and then: "We're going to build barricades. We're going to set fire to the Élysée. We're going to make the Revolution." Europe 1 said he was under judicial supervision that barred him from demonstrations, and that he was listed as a security threat.

Hauts-de-France

On 30 September in Roubaix, ICI reported that the entrance door of the private Lycée Léonard-de-Vinci caught fire after bins were set alight. A pupil who passed at about 7:30 a.m. put the crowd at least 200. Firefighters and police attended, and tear gas was used. The school cancelled classes for Wednesday and Thursday. La Voix du Nord reported gatherings that morning at Saint-Martin, Léonard-de-Vinci, and Saint-Rémi, with bin fires that damaged a door and a gate. It said about 100 teenagers then marched to Jean-Moulin, where the entrance grilles were taken down, and that police pushed back about 150 pupils at Baudelaire. At Louis-Loucheur, bins were burned and people tried to pull the gate off. The Nord prefecture told ICI that 29 schools in the department were disrupted that day and that 25 people were arrested.

In Lille on 1 October, Ouest-France reported burning bins and projectiles thrown at riot police near the neighbouring lycées Gaston-Berger and Faidherbe, and police charges with tear gas. franceinfo reported a police intervention at Faidherbe. La Voix du Nord reported that Tuesday's mobilisation included serious damage at the Lycée César-Baggio, where a teacher was assaulted. ICI reported bins burned and bus shelters smashed at Baggio on 29 September, with tear gas used against a crowd of about 200.

In Haubourdin, near Lille, franceinfo reported that municipal buildings were ransacked, that the Lycée Beaupré stayed closed on Thursday and Friday, and that two nearby schools were also closed. ICI reported bins burned there and wrote that the lycée and the two nearby schools would stay closed until Monday. On 28 September, La Voix du Nord reported that about 100 young people burned tires and pieces of wood outside Beaupré, and that police used tear gas.

In Tourcoing, La Voix du Nord reported that at the Lycée Sévigné a young man was found unconscious on the ground and got up a few minutes later. After police arrived, the crowd scattered. Some people arrived with sticks and fire extinguishers, and projectiles including glass bottles and stones were thrown at police. Police used tear gas and fired rubber-bullet rounds.

In Auchel, Pas-de-Calais, the principal of the vocational lycée Fernand-Degrugillier was hit by a projectile and hospitalised, the prefecture told ICI. BFM Grand Lille, citing the sub-prefect of Béthune and the prefecture, reported that the projectile was a firework that struck him in the ear, and that the rectorat would file a complaint. RMC, citing the Béthune prosecutor, reported a lit firecracker that bounced and exploded about two metres from him. La Voix du Nord reported that an 18-year-old girl was burned on the neck by an aerosol used to feed a bin fire at the Lycée Léo-Lagrange in Bully-les-Mines, and that a 15-year-old girl in Arras was hospitalised with a scalp wound after being hit by a projectile.

Normandy

The Normandy rectorat said the principals of the Lycée Blaise-Pascal in Rouen and the Lycée Élisa-Lemonnier in Le Petit-Quevilly were assaulted and slightly injured. Tendance Ouest, citing the academy, reported that the Blaise-Pascal principal was targeted by a firework, hit in the abdomen, and burned, and that he stayed on site. Paris-Normandie reported that a fire of bins, pallets, and other objects heavily damaged the doors and entrances of Blaise-Pascal, and that the building itself did not catch fire. It said the principal was injured by a firework that morning, and that the school, already blockaded on 30 September, would stay closed until 5 October. actu.fr reported five people injured across the academy, material damage inside some blockaded lycées, 33 fire-service callouts, and more than 240 firefighters. It placed bin fires at the gates of Blaise-Pascal, not inside the building, and also at Marcel-Sembat in Sotteville-lès-Rouen and at Camille-Saint-Saëns in central Rouen. ICI separately reported a fire at Blaise-Pascal. BBC News reported a school entrance on fire in Rouen. Paris-Normandie reported that a masked group arrived at Marcel-Sembat in Sotteville-lès-Rouen at about 7:45 a.m. with two rows of shopping carts used as barricades, one at the gates and one on rue Léon-Salva. The rectorat said about 30 lycées in Seine-Maritime would stay closed on 2 October.

In Le Havre, Paris-Normandie reported a large fire of bins and branches outside the Lycée Porte-Océane, a heavy police presence, and at least one arrest. It reported several hundred pupils outside Claude-Monet, electric scooters on fire near François-Ier, and a charge toward police that the police answered. ICI reported fire damage at Porte-Océane, a street fire outside Françoise-de-Grâce, destroyed bins and at least two burned cars near Jules-Siegfried, and a fire at Saint-Vincent-de-Paul.

In Caen, Ouest-France reported barricades at the lycées Malherbe, Rostand, Fresnel, and Laplace, and a fire in the roadway in front of Malherbe.

Brittany

Blockade of Rennes 2 University during its occupation; "Vive la commune" has been graffitied

In Ille-et-Vilaine, Ouest-France reported that firefighters went to 18 schools and made 43 callouts: 36 fires on the public highway, two vehicle fires, and five rescues. At the Lycée Bréquigny in Rennes, people entered the building, broke windows, and burned the main gate on avenue Georges-Graff. Seven people were arrested. Callouts were also reported in Cesson-Sévigné, Saint-Malo, Bain-de-Bretagne, Dinard, and Vitré. Le Télégramme reported that LFI deputy Marie Mesmeur, wearing a tricolour sash, stood in front of a fire of bins and a shopping cart on allée Henri-Bergson and told people to stop feeding it and to stop throwing stones at a new Renault Trafic. The crowd then struck a white Audi with iron bars. A resident who tried to stop the damage was insulted. Mesmeur said the damage and thefts were not necessarily the work of the lycée pupils. The paper reported that 11 of 14 people placed in custody the day before were lycée pupils. A second Ouest-France account said about 30 people were at the Lycée Jean-Macé from 7 a.m., that bins and barriers blocked the entrance, and that pupils then blocked the entrance of the neighbouring law faculty. It reported heavy tear-gas use at Joliot-Curie.

In Saint-Brieuc, Ouest-France reported about 700 lycée students in the streets, from Chaptal, Sacré-Cœur, Jean-Moulin, and Freyssinet. At Sacré-Cœur, bottles were thrown at the road and a wall, and two workshop windows were broken.

Pays de la Loire

At the Lycée Nelson-Mandela, on the Île de Nantes, a fire reached the entrance hall on the morning of 1 October. franceinfo, citing police, said the blaze began on the facade and spread inside. About 50 firefighters were sent. The fire service said there were no victims. Classes were damaged. The school management told families, in an email seen by ICI, that the lycée should not reopen before the All Saints' Day holiday. Deputy principal Gaëlle Cordier told Agence France-Presse the fire was deliberate. The rectorat said the entrance burned after a gathering marked by violence toward staff. Ouest-France reported the entrance doors were destroyed and the facade blackened. BBC News reported fires at two Nantes high schools.

The glass entrance doors of the Lycée Talensac, also in Nantes, were destroyed by fire within minutes. That fire was put out. At Michelet, Ouest-France reported fires lit on the tram tracks, which stopped the tram. At La Colinière, fireworks caused a crowd movement among the pupils. Ouest-France reported that an Aléop school coach stopped at the Colinière bus stop was rushed by a group of young people, some in black, hoods, and medical masks. Projectiles broke several windows. Passengers moved to the back of the coach, and the driver drove off. The bus-stop windows were then smashed. The driver told the paper he had been afraid for his passengers. The same paper, citing Semitan, reported that five tram cars had windows broken, that passenger shelters and tram infrastructure were damaged, and that lines 2 and 4 and central bus lines were diverted. Ouest-France also reported bin fires and fireworks blocking the boulevard in front of the Lycée Carcouët.

Ouest-France reported blockades that morning at Camus, Guist'hau, La Colinière, Michelet, and Mandela in Nantes, and about 500 people with barriers at Jean-Perrin in Rezé, where fires of branches and bins were lit on the roadway. Ouest-France said the day's blockades in the department ran from Pornic to Nantes and Saint-Nazaire.

The Loire-Atlantique prefecture told franceinfo in the morning that nine schools had been damaged, that fires had been set at three, including Mandela, and that 18 people had been arrested in the department. It blamed "violent individuals" who it said had joined the lycée students. Ouest-France, citing the prefecture later in the day, reported 35 arrests. The prefect, the rector, and head teachers were due to meet that evening. Ouest-France reported that some public lycées in Nantes would be closed on Friday and that private schools in the city centre would teach remotely.

In Avrillé, near Angers, Ouest-France reported that a group forced the administrative entrance of the Lycée Paul-Émile-Victor, stole furniture, archives, and computer equipment, and set the stolen material on fire. In Angers, the same paper reported an intrusion at the Lycée Chevrollier and two teachers injured. It said one teacher was caught in a crush at the gate, slightly injured in the head, and in shock. It also reported bin fires, smashed bus shelters, and stones thrown at fire engines and police cars.

Centre-Val de Loire

Franceinfo reported clashes between police and protesters outside the Lycée Grandmont in Tours, the largest lycée in the agglomeration. The 16-year-old student injured during the 30 September blockade later lost the use of his right eye. The Tours prosecutor said the injury was consistent with an impact from an LBD round. The IGPN opened an investigation into the circumstances of the incident. The Tours case is also one of the three IGPN inquiries into injured pupils.

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

Barricaded doors at the lycée Champollion in Grenoble, 30 September

ICI reported that the principal of the Lycée Ambroise-Brugière in Clermont-Ferrand was slightly injured in the head by a firework, which the prefecture attributed to masked people from outside the school. The same account listed about 10 bin fires and a halt to the city's T2C transit network. RTL's account of attacks on school heads also cited fireworks being launched in Clermont.

Franceinfo published a photograph of a burning barricade near the Lycée Mounier in Grenoble. In Annecy, the Lycée Sommelier was blockaded. The gates of the Lycée Gabriel-Fauré were damaged, and about 1,800 of its pupils were told to follow lessons remotely on Friday. A second Annecy lycée was also moved to remote teaching due to degraded security. Le Dauphiné libéré reported deliberate container fires and fireworks being launced at school gates in the Annecy basin, and tear gas after clashes with police. It named blockades at Louis-Berthollet, Germain-Sommeiller, Gabriel-Fauré, Louis-Lachenal in Argonay, Tom-Morel, and Charles-Baudelaire in Cran-Gevrier. ICI reported that the gathering at Charles-Baudelaire degenerated, that fireworks were fired at police, and that police answered with tear gas. It also reported fires of street furniture at Berthollet, Sommelier, and Louis-Lachenal, and damaged gates at Gabriel-Fauré. The Haute-Savoie prefecture told ICI of 12 arrests, most of them minors, and said Sommelier, Baudelaire, Berthollet, Fauré, and Lachenal would stay closed on 2 October.

L'Essor savoyard described the gathering in front of Charles-Baudelaire as more peaceful, with about 50 pupils and placards, and placed the fireworks and the closed road on avenue du Capitaine-Anjot, near Tom-Morel. RTL, citing the prefect of the Loire, reported that principals were injured to differing degrees, at Rive-de-Gier and Saint-Étienne, and that two gendarmes and three police officers in the department were hit by stones or fireworks. In Saint-Étienne, Radio Scoop reported bins set on fire and windows broken with barriers at the Lycée Étienne-Mimard, and a crowd pushed back at Claude-Fauriel. Citing Le Progrès, it said the gymnasium of the Sainte-Marie school was ransacked. Le Progrès reported an intrusion inside Sainte-Marie and quoted the school's management as saying it had never seen that level of violence. TL7 reported fireworks at Étienne-Mimard, a security perimeter, and 20 arrests in the police zone, most of them minors. The prefecture told the station that 15 public lycées and one private school in the Loire were affected. The city of Saint-Étienne condemned bin fires, fires on the tram tracks, and torn-down road signs.

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

Demonstrators block the A8 motorway near Pont de l'Arc in Aix-en-Provence, 17 October

At the Lycée Saint-Exupéry, in the 15th arrondissement of Marseille, a fire engine sent to a rubbish fire was itself set alight after the crew was forced off the vehicle. The Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture told BFM that hundreds of young people surrounded the marine-firefighters' engine, forced the crew to leave it, and set it on fire. The battalion said a first-intervention vehicle was also burned and that one marine firefighter was slightly injured. BFM also reported that equipment inside the engine was taken.

At the Lycée Victor-Hugo, accounts differed. The Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regional council told RTL that a fire was attempted inside the building and that the principal, deputy principal, general secretary, and team leader were assaulted and doused with petrol. RTL reported that the principal and deputy were splashed unintentionally while youths tried to set a bin alight, and that one member of the management was thrown to the ground without a visible injury. A witness told RTL she had been sent video of the deputy principal being hit at 7 a.m. Reuters reported local authorities as saying teachers were splashed inadvertently. The rectorat later told Agence France-Presse that the deputy principal and two other staff were splashed by people putting petrol into containers. BFM reported that the rectorat had walked back the region's wording, from staff "doused" with petrol to staff "splashed" by petrol a group was putting into containers.

The Marseille transit authority, RTM, stopped the entire network after buses were attacked near lycées in the north and east of the city. Marsactu, citing RTM, reported that a bus was set on fire beside the Lycée La Floride, in the 14th arrondissement, that drivers had to leave their vehicles in a hurry, and that one driver was assaulted. RTM said it would file a complaint. Actu.fr reported that pupils took control of a bus at La Floride and then set it on fire. Reuters reported assaults on drivers with injuries. The Bouches-du-Rhône police prefecture said 40 lycées were affected, 18 of them fully blocked, with more than 4,600 participants. RTL reported that M6 said a Marseille correspondent was injured in the forehead and his camera broken while covering a lycée protest, and that the group was filing a complaint. Ouest-France, citing M6's journalists' society, placed the assault at the Lycée Saint-Exupéry: the correspondent was surrounded as he was leaving, struck several times, and his camera was destroyed.

In Manosque, Le Dauphiné libéré reported eight arrests, one person injured, and the start of a fire at the town hall. About 950 of the department's 5,000 lycée pupils were mobilised. Prefect Isabelle Tomatis said the right to protest was not a right to assault, smash, or burn.

In Avignon, the same paper reported that students from the Aubanel, René-Char, and Philippe-de-Girard lycées barricaded themselves behind bins and that some threw Molotov cocktails when CRS tried to push them back. It put the arrests at about 20. ICI, citing the Vaucluse prefecture, reported fires on the public highway, destroyed street furniture, three police officers and one gendarme injured, and three fire engines hit by projectiles. At Philippe-de-Girard, it reported two fire engines hit, a destroyed bus shelter, and eggs thrown at the town hall. La Provence reported that police and firefighters putting out bin fires at Philippe-de-Girard and Aubanel were targeted with projectiles.

Occitanie

Midi Libre reported a fire at the Lycée Mendès-France in Montpellier, with firefighters sent to contain it, and further damage around that school. In Nîmes, the same paper's live blog reported that the Lycée Saint-Vincent-de-Paul had a tagged facade and broken windows. It said people from outside the school put up barricades and set them on fire at about 7:15 a.m., that staff first confined the pupils, and that the school was then evacuated. The Gard prefecture, reported by TV Sud, counted 580 people at 16 schools in Nîmes, Alès, and Rodilhan, with bin fires, gates and street furniture torn down, vandalised portals, and intrusions. It reported 22 arrests and 13 people slightly injured, including six police officers and two education staff.

Nouvelle-Aquitaine

Fire at the town hall in Limoges, 17 October

In La Rochelle, Sud Ouest reported that a Yélo bus was attacked in the morning near the Lycée Rompsay. About 20 young passengers were on board. Two were slightly injured. Eleven others, and the driver, were treated for shock. Several bus shelters were vandalised at place de Verdun, where the marches met. The network was suspended and was due to resume in the middle of the afternoon. The agglomeration said the afternoon school run would still run.

South-west, Grand Est, and other cities

Reuters reported that riot police clashed with youths in Toulouse and that at least one car was burned in Strasbourg. In Tournefeuille, west of Toulouse, La Dépêche du Midi reported fires and projectiles at the Lycée Françoise from about 9:30 a.m., smashed windows at the entrance, and staff moved to the back of the building. A resident told the paper there was smoke everywhere and that police were firing smoke grenades. At the Lycée Stéphane-Hessel, in the Roseraie district, La Dépêche reported that bins were set alight and then the lodge was burned. Teachers and pupils told the paper that many people from outside the school had joined the blockade. The same paper reported a large fire that reached the lodge of the Lycée Roland-Garros. Toulouse FM reported bins, a bicycle, and a Tisséo bus shelter set on fire or smashed on route d'Espagne during the blockade of the Lycée Gallieni, and a CRS charge to clear the entrance for firefighters. It listed further clashes at Déodat-de-Séverac, Les Arènes, Bellevue, Ozenne, Saint-Sernin, Henri-de-Toulouse-Lautrec, Urbain-Vitry, and Rive-Gauche. ICI, citing the authorities, reported 57 arrests in Haute-Garonne, 13 pupils slightly injured, including several attacked while trying to put out a fire, damaged gates, lodges partly destroyed at two lycées, about 30 vandalised bus shelters, and fires of bins and tyres. Hessel and Françoise were among 18 schools closed the next day.

On 29 September, Toulouse FM reported that a member of the management at Stéphane-Hessel was charged, knocked down, and beaten by a crowd of minors while trying to put out a bin fire. In Strasbourg, authorities halted trams. Al Jazeera reported that barriers were burned on the tracks. franceinfo's photograph caption showed a street blocked at the Lycée Camille-Jullian in Bordeaux. franceinfo also reported fireworks being launched in Bordeaux, then a fire on a lycée facade. The same report said a pupil was burned in front of classmates at another Nantes lycée. RMC reported that a deputy principal in Nîmes was slightly injured.

Attacks not tied to a named school

CNN reported that videos showed two teachers being attacked, and that the presidency, officials, and teaching unions condemned the footage. It did not name the schools. It also reported a government figure of one pupil who partly lost the use of a hand after setting off a firework which happened again on 17 October in Saint-Étienne. Al Jazeera, citing regional education authorities, prefectures, and unions, reported that several principals were injured, harassed, or assaulted during Thursday's blockades. RMC reported that at least 10 head teachers and deputy heads had been injured since the protests began.

Casualties, arrests and damage

On 1 October, the Interior Ministry's arrest figure was 1,949. Le Figaro reported 1,793 people placed in custody, 90 percent of them minors. It said about one third of the cases concerned attacks on public officers, one third unlawful assembly, and one third property damage. Bobigny prosecutor Alexandre de Bosschère described the local pattern as a pre-riot, citing group possession of incendiary products or weapons, damage, and violence. ICI attributed the 1,793 custody figure to the Justice Ministry and said it covered the period since Monday. An arrest is not the same thing as being placed in custody.

Officer injuries were reported differently on the same day. The franceinfo live blog, citing the Interior Ministry, reported 84 police and gendarmes injured. Later, ICI and the BBC, also citing the Interior Ministry, reported 305. On Wednesday, Nuñez had said 83 officers were injured.

As of 6 October, the Justice Ministry reported that 5,060 people had been arrested since the protests began, with 87% of them being minors. The ministry also stated that more than 1,800 people were being prosecuted, including 1,483 minors, and that 790 cases had been dismissed. Lecornu's office also reported that at least 715 police officers and 215 teenagers had been injured in the clashes.

Geffray said on Thursday evening that 235 people had been hurt on the side of the protesters since Monday: 170 pupils and 65 staff. Earlier on Wednesday, he had given a cumulative figure of 119. CNN reported a government figure of 159 students and staff injured over several days.

According to the BBC, during the riots on 17 October, 1,500 shops and businesses were destroyed or ransacked, and a further 3,000 were looted.

Criticism of policing tactics

High school students take part in a demonstration in Perpignan, 2 October 2026

The policing of the movement drew criticism from a multitude of observers. Sociologist Robi Morder, a specialist in youth movements, described the scale of the repression as unprecedented for a high-school movement. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said officers had been instructed to use all available intermediate weapons to put an end to the unrest. Amnesty International, the Human Rights League, the Syndicat de la magistrature and the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights each condemned what they described as a disproportionate use of force against minors.

As early as 27 September, lawyers from the Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis bars alleged that pupils arrested at blockades had been beaten, including a 15-year-old reportedly slapped repeatedly inside a police station in Saint-Denis. Several serious injuries followed. In Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône, a 14-year-old was struck with a baton and shot in the jaw by police at close range with a tear gas round, causing a broken jaw and the loss of several teeth. According to the Pontoise prosecutor, he had struck a police officer beforehand. In Tours, a 16-year-old lost the use of his right eye on 30 September; the prosecutor said his injuries were consistent with a Flash-Ball projectile. On 5 October, a 15-year-old in Lens lost his left hand when a grenade exploded near his school. In Metz, prosecutors opened an inquiry into possible sexual assault after a video appeared to show an officer touching a 14-year-old girl he was restraining. By 5 October, at least ten investigations had been referred to the IGPN, France's police oversight body.

Several high-profile injuries involving minors drew particular attention. On 30 September, a 16-year-old in Tours lost the use of one eye after being struck by a projectile consistent with a Flash-Ball (rubber bullet) round, according to the local prosecutor. On 5 October in Lens, a 15-year-old lost his left hand when a stun grenade exploded near him during a confrontation outside a school; Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez subsequently ordered a temporary suspension of the use of stun grenades in the context of the lycée protests pending investigation. In Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône, a 14-year-old suffered a broken jaw and lost several teeth after being struck at close range by a tear-gas round. A 17-year-old in Mulhouse later lost an eye during demonstrations.

By mid-October, the Inspectorate General of the National Police (IGPN) had opened at least 24 to 36 internal investigations into alleged police misconduct related to the protests, according to varying official figures reported by the Interior Ministry and prosecutors. Human Rights Watch documented serious injuries to children and described the police response as involving excessive force, while Amnesty International criticised the "reckless" use of tear-gas grenades and rubber bullets against predominantly minor protesters. The United Nations Human Rights Office expressed concern over reports of unnecessary and disproportionate force, including against children.

Nuñez rejected accusations of systematic brutality, stating that the police response had been proportionate in the large majority of cases and that some demonstrations had escalated into riots involving projectiles and arson. He noted that officers had been instructed to use intermediate force options to restore order. Critics, including the Human Rights League and the Syndicat de la magistrature, argued that the scale of force used against high-school students was unprecedented for a movement of this type.

Responses

Public opinion

On 1 October, a poll conducted for Le Figaro indicated that 62% of French people believed that the students' movement was justified. The same poll found that 61% believed that LFI was too involved, 74% felt that the party was putting students in danger, and 78% felt that the party was exploiting the movement for political gain.

Government

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the difficulties of the lycées "must be heard" and that violence had to be condemned. After the 1 October crisis meeting, his office called the unrest urban violence and cited the intelligence assessment naming LFI. Le Figaro reported that it had seen a note from the Paris police prefecture whose authors wrote that the origins of the movement "plainly reside in an instrumentalisation of student-union structures and of political movements close to the far left".

Addressing the violence, Lecornu said on 28 September that "Fireworks, fires, violence near high schools: nothing justifies endangering students, staff, or police officers."

Lecornu told the paper that about 20 national LFI office-holders were involved on 29 September, from Lille to Rennes and Toulouse. Geffray said the lycée movement had been "taken hostage by ultra-violent groups", told parents not to let their children join, and said no demand could justify the acts. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin called the 36 prosecutors general to a video meeting and asked for a firm penal response. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said police had opened internal inquiries into allegations of brutality against three students.

On 5 October, the Interior Ministry said that the Inspectorate General of the National Police (IGPN) had opened ten investigations since the start of the protests into police interventions during the mobilisation.

On 6 October, Prime Minister Lecornu instructed ministers to address the students' main demands and present initial proposals by the end of October. These included ensuring that absent teachers were replaced, reviewing the length of the school day, and carrying out necessary repairs to older school buildings.

Political parties

Bruno Retailleau, a Republican presidential candidate, told BFM-RMC that LFI was "fascinated by violence", was calling for sedition, and was trying to organise an insurrection. He said the lycée clashes were a "dress rehearsal" for 2027 if Marine Le Pen won, and raised the question of banning LFI.

Member of Parliament Louis Boyard, of LFI, at the October 17 demonstration in Paris.

LFI founder, Jean-Luc Mélenchon had already called the pupils harmless and the police response racist in tone.

Gabriel Attal, a Renaissance presidential candidate, told Agence France-Presse that LFI's use of the movement was unbearable and asked Mélenchon and LFI deputies to stop using young people as "political cannon fodder". BFM reported that Attal had first repeated the regional council's claim that a Marseille management team had been doused with petrol, and that the rectorat then described them as splashed.

National Rally leader Marine Le Pen described the unrest as a "deep crisis" and accused President Emmanuel Macron's government of having lost its authority. She also criticised the far left over the violence. Reconquête leader Éric Zemmour blamed the violence on what he described as hatred of France and a desire for revenge over colonialism. He called for tougher penalties for those involved and argued that a return to social peace would require "remigration".

Manuel Bompard, coordinator of the left-wing party La France Insoumise, rejected Matignon's account of the origin of the movement. Valérie Pécresse, president of Île-de-France, gave the damage estimate above €1 million. Le Figaro reported that Pécresse said she would send a €100,000 bill to the mayor of Saint-Denis, Bally Bagayoko, for the Paul-Éluard gate, guarding, and cleaning, and that she accused him of having encouraged the people who damaged it. Europe 1 quoted the region's vice-president, James Chéron, saying those responsible and their legal guardians would be pursued, and that the region counted more than 20 burned gates and about 10 ransacked schools.

International

US President Donald Trump spoke out about the riots in France, blaming the disorder there on "the immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts". He urged France to close its borders. Vice President JD Vance also blamed immigrants for the riots.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that France had succumbed to an "invasion of extremist Islam" and urged French leaders to "fight against the extremists".

Hungary's Péter Magyar said the riots in France justified Hungary's tough migration stance.

The European Commission condemned the arson, looting, and attacks on individuals and public and historic buildings in France. Commission spokesperson Markus Lammert stated that authorities must distinguish peaceful demonstrators from those committing violence.

Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg visited student protesters outside Lycée Paul-Éluard in Saint-Denis on 13 October, saying that their movement was inspiring young people in other countries.

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini wrote on X that the "axis of evil" formed by left-wing extremists and Islamist fanatics was the main danger facing Europe. His post included footage of the town hall in Limoges on fire. Spanish Vox leader Santiago Abascal warned of what he called "Islamo-leftism" in a post on X, describing the unrest in France as a threat to European civilisation.

The United Nations High Commissionner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, expressed concern over human rights in relation to protests in Albania, Belgium, France, Italy and Portugal, including "reports of unnecessary and excessive use of force against protesters, including children", and urged "States to engage protesters, particularly young people, in meaningful, inclusive and constructive dialogue, and to take concrete steps to address legitimate and fundamental human rights concerns over education, public services, housing, the rising cost of living and inequality".

Organizations

The Pittsburgh Steelers cancelled a fan event that was set to take place before their 25 October game against the New Orleans Saints at Stade de France.

See also

• Bismillah, c'est les ténèbres
• May 68
• Secondary education in France
• 2026 French fuel protests
• 2026 Italian unrest

External links

• Mouvement lycéen et blocus de 2026 en France on the French Wikipedia