France school protests: 440 detained as interior minister condemns violence

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 440 people, most of them minors, were detained across France on Tuesday as school blockades and protests escalated, sharply up from the 164 arrests recorded on Monday.

Speaking to BFMTV, Nunez said the tally was still incomplete: “We don’t have the final tally yet, but I’m told two thirds led to police custody.”

Forty-eight law enforcement officers were injured during the day’s clashes, and officers faced seven instances of hydrochloric acid being thrown at them, he said. “Violence is never legitimate. There is nothing that justifies violence,” Nunez added.

The education ministry said 400 schools were affected by protests or disruptions on Tuesday, and teaching was stopped completely at more than 40 lycées. Students have been protesting timetables, class sizes, teacher shortages and overheated classrooms in a movement that began in the Ile-de-France region last week and has spread nationwide, including Lille, Marseille, Lyon, Nantes and Bordeaux. Police responded with batons and tear gas in places.

Tuesday also saw a national one-day strike by civil servants and firefighters over declining pay. It comes two days before the government unveils its draft 2027 budget, as Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s centre-right government struggles to pass cost-cutting measures in a hung parliament, seven months before the presidential election.

Sources

• AFP via hespress: https://en.hespress.com/146378-hundreds-detained-in-france-over-school-blockades-minister.html
• The Times: https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/france-school-blockades-arrests-npw2wz3mh
• Al Jazeera photos gallery: https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2026/9/29/photos-french-studentspublic-workers-protest-macrons-planned-budget-cuts