Hundreds of thousands of students, teachers, parents and trade unionists took part in nationwide demonstrations in France on Tuesday, the largest day so far of a movement that began in high schools almost three weeks ago. France's interior ministry counted about 256,000 marchers in more than 40 cities, including 56,000 in Paris; student organisers put the national figure at 450,000. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu called the unrest the most violent in French schools in decades.

The movement began on 21 September at a high school in Créteil, a working-class suburb southeast of Paris, where staff shortages were acute. It has since spread across the country. The High School Students Union says more than half of France's high schools were blockaded or closed on Tuesday, and the interior ministry says about 40 percent of public universities have been disrupted. Students cite absent teachers who are not replaced, overcrowded classes, school days running from 8am to 6pm, and ageing buildings that become stifling in summer heatwaves. Their list of demands also includes scrapping Parcoursup, the platform used since 2018 to allocate university places, which many see as an opaque sorting algorithm, as well as an end to police violence.

The police response has become a second front. The government told officers to use all non-lethal weapons at their disposal to reopen schools. Officials say 215 students, 85 school staff and more than 700 police officers have been injured, and more than 6,000 people, mostly minors, have been arrested. A police officer who fired a grenade launcher into the face of a 14-year-old in Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône has been charged with violence resulting in mutilation. A 15-year-old in Lens lost a hand on Monday; a police source says he picked up a grenade, though circumstances remain unclear. Rights groups and parents accuse authorities of disproportionate force, while the government says outsiders have hijacked the protests and some have descended into urban violence. In Paris, police said some 300 hostile individuals clashed with officers.

Politics is sharpening the dispute ahead of the presidential election next spring. Lecornu and the far-right National Rally accuse the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) of stoking chaos; LFI denies this and says the government ordered repression. Its leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, marched with students. Political scientist Bruno Cautrès said the manipulation claim does not hold up but that each side is addressing its own voters. President Emmanuel Macron met Lecornu and senior ministers on Tuesday. Lecornu has asked ministers for first proposals by the end of October on replacing absent teachers, reviewing school hours and repairing buildings, and the government plans a pause in classes for discussion in schools. Some parents say words are not enough.

Money is the central constraint. France's public debt is about 119 percent of GDP, borrowing costs have risen, and parliament begins examining a budget with billions of euros in savings on 12 October. Trade union CGT and students have called further protests for Thursday, and the higher education minister is due to meet student groups on Wednesday.