The protest began on 21 September at the Antoine-de-Saint-Exupéry lycée in Créteil. Pupils blockaded the school, complaining of a shortage of teachers, classes of 32–36 pupils, run-down buildings and the stress of the Parcoursup university admissions system. Within days the blockades spread to schools in Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne.

Escalation

On 1 October university students joined the school pupils. The French Interior Ministry said 1,949 people, mostly minors, were arrested that day. The next day prefects closed about 400 schools, and schools burned in Paris, Meaux and Nantes. Education Minister Édouard Geffray said on 5 October that 24 schools had been burned or vandalised.

After the trade unions joined, the protest spread nationwide and to cost-of-living issues. On 17 October the Interior Ministry counted 550,000 demonstrators. Shops were looted in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux, and the 19th-century town hall in Limoges was badly damaged by fire.

Victims and injured

According to the Interior Ministry, about 1,000 police officers were injured on 17 October. Among the young: a 15-year-old in Lens and a 17-year-old in Saint-Étienne lost a hand after police grenade explosions, and a 16-year-old in Tours lost the sight of one eye – prosecutors link this to a rubber bullet. One demonstrator died in Paris after a cardiac arrest. Amnesty International called the use of force disproportionate.

Government response

President Emmanuel Macron condemned the violence in a rare televised address and blamed the far left. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s government sent 3,000 substitute teachers to the worst-affected schools, and Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin instructed prosecutors to seek damages from parents for harm caused by their children.

TBT assessment

France is now the epicentre of the wave. For Poles travelling to Paris, Lyon or Marseille this means possible transport disruption and closed venues. Polish businesses working with France should expect delivery delays on protest days.