France: 500 Schools Expected to Close on Monday

Up to 500 high schools across France are expected to be fully or partially closed on Monday as nationwide protests by teenage students continue to disrupt education, the government said on Sunday. 

Education Minister Edouard Geffray said lessons would be suspended or limited at between 400 and 500 schools because security conditions had not been met.

He added that 24 schools had been burnt or vandalised since the protests began.

The demonstrations, which involve students at French high schools known as lycées, began in Paris on September 17 before spreading nationwide.

Students have raised concerns over teacher shortages and prolonged school days, as well as deteriorating facilities and other problems affecting their education.

Geffray said the number of schools affected on Monday was expected to be similar to Friday’s figure, but promised a gradual resumption of classes as security conditions improve.

The protests have also been marked by clashes between some teenagers and security forces, with police using tear gas and batons in some instances to disperse demonstrators.

Geffray accused activists, particularly those from the far left, of infiltrating the student movement and turning some demonstrations violent.

He said the alleged violence had created risks for both students and education workers, adding that 78 members of education staff had been injured since the movement began.

The minister further alleged that some staff members were deliberately targeted because of their employment in the national education system.

“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,” Gefrray claimed.

“Clearly, this poses a risk to both our staff and our students,” he alleged, adding that 78 education staff members had been wounded — “something we have never seen before”.

“They were deliberately targeted because they were employees of the national education system,” Geffray claimed.

Protest organisers have called for demonstrations to continue on Tuesday, arguing that the government has yet to introduce concrete measures to address their concerns.

More than 5,000 people have been arrested since the protests began, with minors accounting for about 85 percent of those detained.

Critics, however, have accused police of using excessive force during the demonstrations.

Separately, police detained a 16-year-old on Sunday over the alleged assault of a teacher in La Ciotat, southern France.

The 59-year-old teacher was reportedly doused with petrol and struck during a student protest on Friday.

A video circulating on social media appears to show a masked person dressed in black pouring liquid over the teacher, who then holds his face as a nearby tree burns.