{"id":921107,"date":"2026-10-05T04:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T04:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/921107\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T04:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T04:52:10","slug":"france-to-shutter-up-to-500-schools-as-more-student-protests-called-protests-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/921107\/","title":{"rendered":"France to shutter up to 500 schools as more student protests called | Protests News"},"content":{"rendered":"

French education minister cites safety concerns for closures as resumption of protests are called for by organisers.<\/p>\n

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Published On 4 Oct 20264 Oct 2026<\/p>\n

France plans to fully or partially close up to 500 schools on Monday amid a series of student protests that have become increasingly violent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Education Minister Edouard Geffray announced the precautionary measures on Sunday as part of a bid for a \u201cpartial, progressive return to lessons\u201d. However, after a weekend lull, student protestors announced they plan to resume demonstrations \u2013 launched last month over complaints regarding class sizes, lack of teachers, and other complaints \u2013 early in the week.<\/p>\n

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Lessons will be \u201ctotally or partly suspended\u201d in some \u201c400-500\u201d high schools as the security conditions \u201chave not been fulfilled\u201d, the minister said. He added that 24 schools had been \u201cburned or ransacked\u201d since the start of the protests.<\/p>\n

Geffray said the closures were a security precaution. Protest organisers have called for a return to large-scale demonstrations on Tuesday, citing a lack of \u201cconcrete measures\u201d from President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s government.<\/p>\n

\"FrenchFrench students clash with police near a high school in Aubervilliers on Thursday [Tom Nicholson\/Getty Images]<\/p>\n

At least 170 students and 78 educational personnel have been injured since the student demos first erupted<\/a> in the Paris region in mid-September, according to Geffray.<\/p>\n

The Ministry of National Education reported that at least 400 of the 3,700 high schools in France were closed on Friday<\/a>, while 560 faced protests or disruptions.<\/p>\n

The number of schools affected on Monday would be comparable to the figure from Friday, Geffray said.<\/p>\n

Teachers and students first mobilised at a high school in a Paris suburb on 17 September over a lack of teaching staff, excessive school-day hours and other grievances<\/a>. The protests have since spread nationwide, resulting in class strikes, blockades and demonstrations.<\/p>\n

According to the interior minister, more than 5,000 people have been arrested in the last week; 85 percent of them minors.<\/p>\n

Critics have criticised \u201cdisproportionate\u201d police violence in response to the demonstrations. Rights group Amnesty International said the student protestors \u201cmust be listened to, not repressed\u201d.<\/p>\n

In an interview on French public radio, Geffray claimed far-left activists \u201cinfiltrated the high school student movement, hijacked it from the students themselves and engaged in extreme violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

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