About 200 French schools close as student protests spread and Greta Thunberg joins

How the revolt began

The protests started in September 2026 at a high school in Créteil, southeast of Paris, over a lack of staff. Class strikes, blockades and demonstrations then spread to other Paris suburbs and to smaller towns across the country. Pupils describe under-resourced schools with dilapidated buildings and too few staff, particularly in lower-income neighborhoods. Some say classrooms overheat during summer heatwaves and freeze in winter, and that school days running from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. are exhausting. University students have also joined, and they criticise the complexity of the university entrance system.

Arrests and clashes

AP reports that police made more than 6,600 arrests nationwide, a count it gave as of the week before its 13 October report, which it describes as unusually high for a French protest movement. Riot police have used tear gas and batons against crowds, while fireworks have been thrown at officers. On Monday, 12 October, a hooded group of about 150 people reportedly tried to approach the Daguin lycée in Mérignac near Bordeaux early in the morning. According to the prefecture, 15 people were arrested after the clashes. Sud Ouest reported that five CRS riot police were injured, two of them taken to hospital, and the school was evacuated around 8 a.m.

Former gendarmerie general Richard Caminade, a public order specialist, said more than 700 police officers have been injured since the movement began. He added that footage shared online shows events without the context of what came before them.

Injuring someone is not in the DNA of police officers or gendarmes.

Thunberg in Saint-Denis

Greta Thunberg, 23, arrived at the Paul-Éluard lycée in Saint-Denis around 8:30 on Tuesday, 13 October, where more than a hundred young people had gathered. She told reporters that young people are not included in discussions and that schools are not receiving the investment they need. She said the movement must not give up and that she was extremely proud of French students. Pupils at the scene said her visit put the Seine-Saint-Denis department in the spotlight. Lawyers in robes also stood outside the school to denounce what they called police violence.

Government response

Education minister Édouard Geffray said about 200 schools were closed on 13 October. He said secondary pupils could keep speaking out through protest, while urging all of them to return to class. An online consultation for secondary pupils received about 86,000 contributions, nearly three quarters of which raised overloaded timetables and half of which concerned school facilities. The government has committed to urgently deploy 3,000 replacement teachers to the secondary schools facing the greatest difficulties. On 11 October, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on X that some proposals from the consultation would be included in amendments to the 2027 budget draft, which parliament has begun to debate. In Marseille, Mayor Benoît Payan opened city halls to demonstrators so they could meet and organise peacefully.

Wider stakes

AP says the protests are influencing France's presidential election campaign and are the latest challenge to President Emmanuel Macron. The latest PISA report showed that reading comprehension and mathematics scores have plunged, which feeds wider concerns about the education system. The movement has already inspired similar protests in Belgium and Italy, according to SIC Notícias. Some protesters hope to link up with cost-of-living protests planned for Saturday, 17 October.