France closes hundreds of schools as violent student protests spread

A wave of intense student demonstrations has crippled educational institutions across France, forcing the partial or total closure of hundreds of schools following widespread urban violence.

 Driven by mounting grievances over chronic staff shortages, overcrowded classrooms, decaying infrastructure, and grueling timetables, the protest movement rapidly devolved into fierce street clashes between youth demonstrators and security forces.

Up to 500 schools across France will be partially or totally closed on Monday after clashes between riot police and student protesters in recent days, the French education minister said on Sunday.

Lessons will be "totally or partly suspended" in some "400 to 500" high schools as security conditions "have not been fulfilled", Édouard Geffray said.

He also said 24 schools had been "burned or ransacked" since the start of the protests.

Thousands of students have been demonstrating over education standards and the protests, which started last week, have spread from Paris to other cities, including Montpellier, Nantes and Marseille.

High school pupils and others have objected to a lack of teachers, overcrowded classrooms and run-down buildings.

On Friday, French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said 735 of France's 3,700 schools had been affected "one way or another" by violent protests.

The education minister warned the number of schools potentially affected on Monday could be comparable to Friday's figure but promised a "partial, progressive return to lessons".

Authorities have deployed heavy riot police units to counter widespread blockades, tire fires, and structural vandalism outside major high schools and universities. 

The unrest has triggered emergency security responses, leading to numerous detentions as political tensions reach a boiling point nationwide.

Government officials are facing mounting pressure from teachers' unions and student representatives to address systemic underfunding in public education. 

While ministers have called for calm and urged dialogue, student leaders insist that blockades will persist until concrete investments and structural reforms are guaranteed. 

The escalating crisis threatens to spark wider labor mobilization across other public sectors as disruptions ripple through major French urban centers.

"There are activists-particularly from the far-left-who have infiltrated the high school student movement, hijacked it from the students themselves, and engaged in extreme violence," Édouard Geffray claimed.