School protests sweeping France cause 'heaviest toll in decades'

Demonstrations swept across France on Tuesday as teachers and parents took to the streets with high school pupils on the biggest day of what Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu described as the most ​violent student demonstrations in decades.

Police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse violent groups on the fringes of marches in Paris, Strasbourg, Rennes and Toulouse, among other cities. The ‌marches drew more than 250,000 people in dozens of cities, the interior ministry said, though organisers said 450,000 had participated.

The protests, in which a teenager lost a hand on Monday, were the latest manifestation of public anger in a country where support for populist parties on the far right and far left has surged ahead of a presidential election in the spring.

The government is under pressure to tame public debt amid weak growth, and has struggled with basic tasks such as passing a budget since President Emmanuel ​Macron's allies lost their majority in a 2024 parliamentary vote.

Lecornu told lawmakers at least 215 teenagers and 85 school staff had so far been injured in clashes, "the heaviest toll in decades paid by ​the school system". His office said more than 700 police officers were also hurt.

Macron has convened Lecornu and other senior ministers at an emergency meeting on Tuesday, broadcaster ⁠BFM reported.

US President Donald Trump said the protests were evidence of "out of control" migration in France. "This isn't about schools, this is about Islam wanting to take over a once great Country," he posted on Truth Social.

The ​students' demands do not concern religion or immigration, but focus instead on understaffing and lack of funding. Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party has not linked the protests to France's migration policy. Lecornu's office did not respond ​to a request for comment.

In Marseille and Nantes, protesters held up handmade signs bearing phrases such as "The state has killed national education". In Toulouse, parents linked arms at the front of a march through the city.