Tens of thousands of people rallied across France on Tuesday in support of protesting high school students, in a movement that is now in its fourth week and poses a growing challenge to President Emmanuel Macron as his second and final term draws to a close. The interior ministry counted 161,500 participants nationwide, more than double the 71,500 it recorded a week earlier. Unions put the figure at 480,000. Paris saw two marches, with 41,500 people taking part in one, according to the ministry.
The movement began last month when pupils at France's lycées, the high schools for teenagers aged 15 to 18, blocked school entrances to demand better conditions. Their grievances include absent teachers, crumbling buildings, overcrowded classrooms and long, uneven timetables. Lise, a 15-year-old in central Paris, said she attends lessons from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. with three-hour gaps, in classes of about 35 pupils and without fans during this spring's heat waves. The education ministry said 214 schools were closed on Tuesday, and the Union Etudiante student union said 90 percent of universities had shut in solidarity.
Most demonstrations were peaceful, but there was violence on the sidelines. In Paris, cars were set on fire and police fired tear gas at masked youths building barricades; tear gas was also used in Lyon. The government says 147 teaching staff have been injured and, according to the education minister, at least 24 of the country's 3,700 high schools have been set on fire or ransacked. Macron has called the violence unacceptable. Yet perceived police heavy-handedness has also fuelled the protests: one teenager lost a hand after picking up a stun grenade, another lost an eye and a third lost teeth, and police have opened internal investigations into 34 allegations of violence.
The government has offered 3,000 substitute teachers for the 114 worst-affected schools, but students dismiss this as stopgap "breadcrumbs" and say they will keep up blockades, possibly beyond the late-October half-term holidays. Macron has urged restraint, saying the issues deserve "time, consultations, discussion and respect". The protests coincide with a 2027 budget proposal that seeks around €54 billion in spending cuts, including the elimination of 1,588 teaching posts, which the government attributes to falling pupil numbers. Fuel prices and household costs are also a source of anger, and national cost-of-living demonstrations are planned for Saturday, which unions and student groups hope will merge with the school movement.
Why this matters: France votes for a new president in about six months, and the protests are politicising many young people. Pupils told RFI the mobilisation has pushed them to follow campaign debates and think harder about voting. The far-left France Unbowed party, led by presidential hopeful Jean-Luc Mélenchon, has backed the marches, while some parents worry the unrest could benefit the far right. Commentators note comparisons with the student revolt of May 1968, which grew into a weeks-long general strike, though political scientist Hall Gardner says only that French society is clearly polarising and the outcome remains unclear.