France High School Riots: Up to 500 Schools Shut, 5,000 Arrests as Unrest Spreads

France is entering a third week of school unrest that has grown from a local teacher dispute into nationwide blockades, arson attacks and street clashes. As of Monday 5 October 2026, between 400 and 500 of the country's 3,700 high schools remain fully or partially closed, many of them switched to distance learning because the authorities say safety conditions are not met. All times in this article are given in Paris local time.

The movement began on 21 September 2026 at the Lycée Saint-Exupéry in Créteil, a suburb of Paris, where pupils blocked their school in support of striking teachers who denounced a lack of staff and resources. It spread across the Paris region and then to the rest of the country during the week of 28 September. Students complain about absent teachers who are not replaced, overcrowded classes, dilapidated buildings, heavy timetables and the university application process. Some also contest the ban on mobile phones in schools, although this is a secondary grievance and not what triggered the protests.

The escalation was fast. The first national day of action on Tuesday 29 September ended with 440 arrests, most of them minors. By 30 September the authorities counted 625 arrests and 119 injured students and staff. On Thursday 1 October, when university students joined and blocked around 30 campuses, police recorded 340 actions and 169 blockades in the morning alone, and 1,949 people were arrested during the day. A further 1,747 arrests followed on Friday 2 October. The Interior Ministry now reports more than 5,000 arrests since 28 September, about 85 percent of them minors.

Nantes has become the symbol of the violence. On the morning of Thursday 1 October, during a blockade of the Lycée Nelson Mandela on the Île de Nantes, a bin fire spread to the entrance hall and climbed the glass facade up to the roof. Pupils who arrived at about 08:30 said the building was already burning. Staff and students, including boarders who were still inside, were evacuated and no injuries were reported. The regional education authority described the blaze as arson that followed a gathering marked by violence against staff. A first estimate puts the repair work at no less than 2 million euros. The school will stay closed for about a month, until the end of the autumn holidays, which leaves its 1,700 students learning from home. Several other high schools in the city were damaged, and Nantes trams and buses were diverted on Friday 2 October in anticipation of new blockades.

Other cities have seen serious incidents. In Marseille, staff at the Lycée Victor-Hugo were doused with petrol on 1 October, and a fire engine sent to another school in the city was attacked and set alight. In La Ciotat, a 59-year-old teacher was sprayed with petrol and beaten, and a 16-year-old suspect was arrested in Marseille on Sunday 4 October. In Tours, a young man lost the use of his right eye after clashes with police on 30 September, and the police oversight body has opened three investigations into injuries. In Belfort, a police officer was chased and beaten by a group of youths. Clashes with tear gas were also reported in Lille, Paris and Toulouse, and the unrest briefly spilled over the border to a handful of schools in Liege, Belgium.

The toll keeps rising. Education Minister Edouard Geffray said on Sunday 4 October that 24 of the 735 schools affected by the protests have been burned or ransacked and that 78 education staff have been injured. French media also reported more than 300 police officers injured by 1 October. Regional councils, which own and maintain high school buildings, have started to count the cost: 7 million euros in Île-de-France, between 25 and 30 million euros in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes including damage to streets and vehicles around schools, close to 1 million euros each in Grand Est and Hauts-de-France, and about 2 million euros in Centre-Val de Loire. These figures cover only part of the country and are expected to grow.

Who is behind the violence is disputed. The Paris police prefecture says that 85 percent of the people it arrested are minors, many of them high school students, but not necessarily enrolled at the schools where they caused damage, and that 90 percent were arrested in the department where they live. The Interior Ministry describes groups of hooded individuals who fought police for hours and says their methods are those of delinquents and rioters, not of students voicing demands. In Nantes, pupils of the Lycée Nelson Mandela blamed youths from other schools for the fire.

The Prime Minister's office, citing intelligence services, accuses the hard-left party La France Insoumise and far-left groups of orchestrating the blockades, and Marine Le Pen has made a similar charge. Jean-Luc Mélenchon replied that his party called for non-violent methods. Teacher unions accuse the government of answering with police force alone, while Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez rejects any claim of disproportionate policing.

The government has struggled to regain control. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu convened an interministerial crisis unit on 1 October and asked ministers to cancel or postpone official trips so that prefectures could focus on the unrest. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin called an urgent meeting of the 36 prosecutors general at 17:30 the same day to demand a firm judicial response. The Education Minister announced that lessons would move online in schools that are blocked or damaged, and proposed a consultation platform for students. Student representatives who met him on Friday 2 October said they obtained no concrete measures. The government also plans to fast-track a bill in parliament on 27 October that would make people involved in violent gatherings financially liable for the damage.

The situation remains unstable on Monday 5 October. Police and students clashed again in Lille, tear gas was used in Toulouse and a fire was lit as a group tried to force its way into a school in central Paris. A third national day of action is scheduled for Tuesday 6 October. All teacher unions have announced that they will join it, and the CGT union says its members will attend the marches. With university students already involved, the protests could widen into a broader social movement.