Violent student unrest intensified across France on Friday as riot police clashed with teenagers in several cities, roughly 400 high schools remained shuttered and authorities said some 2,000 people had been arrested since the protests began — while the government increasingly blamed the country’s hard left. Tear gas filled streets in Strasbourg, protesters fired fireworks toward police lines in Marseille, and garbage bins were set ablaze in Rennes, while clashes also broke out in Paris, reported Friday. The latest violence marks a sharp escalation from the unrestt reported by Fox News Digital Thursday, when hundreds had been arrested as school blockades and clashes spread across the country.
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin told RTL radio Friday that approximately 2,000 people — most of them teenagers — had been arrested since the protests erupted. He said parents whose children damage property should be required to pay reparations, according to . "In the streets, the children are in danger," Education Minister Édouard Geffray told BFM TV.
ISRAELI AMBASSADOR COMPARES FRANCE'S FAR-LEFT LEADER'S RHETORIC TO HITLER AS ANTISEMITISM SURGES Euronews reported Friday that at least 65 school staff members, including 40 principals, have been injured since the unrest began, along with roughly 170 students. More than 100 high schools have suffered what Geffray described as "severe damage." The protests began over complaints about overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages, long school days and deteriorating facilities. Students have blamed years of underinvestment for conditions inside schools, as the government unveiled its draft 2027 budget Thursday.
Under the proposal, education spending would rise 1.7% to 65.53 billion euros, excluding teacher pensions — an increase below the rate of inflation, according to . But as the protests have grown more violent, the unrest has also become a major political fight. French intelligence agencies told a government crisis meeting Thursday that the protest movement had been initiated by politicians from the hard-left France Unbowed Party, known as LFI, reported Friday.
FRENCH COURT CLEARS PATH FOR CONSERVATIVE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, BUT HOUSE ARREST THREATENS CAMPAIGN LFI lawmakers rejected the allegation and accused President Emmanuel Macron's government of politicizing the protests ahead of France's 2027 presidential election. Le Monde reported Friday that Geffray accused LFI of fueling the initial demonstrations before saying the movement had been "taken hostage by ultra-left groups." LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has denied responsibility for the violence. Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, senior envoy to Europe at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital on Thursday that the unrest began with legitimate concerns but has since evolved into something far more serious.
"The students’ grievances about missing teachers and deteriorating schools were real at first," Rodan-Benzaquen said. "But dousing a principal in gasoline and attacking firefighters are acts of extreme violence. What makes this politically significant is the effort to turn frustration over schools into a much broader confrontation with the government." The protests are quickly becoming a major issue in the campaign to succeed Macron next May, with Mélenchon denouncing the government’s response as repressive.
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