Student protests over overcrowded classrooms and teacher shortages have spread across France, with police reporting 625 arrests and 119 injured since the unrest began last week.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 625 people had been detained and 83 police officers and gendarmes injured, while Education Minister Édouard Geffray put the total number of injured students and school staff at 119, including 34 education employees.

Earlier official figures, including Geffray’s count of 76 injuries among students and personnel, have been overtaken by the latest toll. Nuñez said around 440 people, most of them minors, were detained on Tuesday alone.

🔴🔥 ALERTE INFO | De nombreux incendies ont été allumés dans Bordeaux (33). Des lycéens ont également tenté de mettre le feu à la porte d’entrée de l’hôtel de ville vers midi. pic.twitter.com/cGa1kq0BzH

— French Report (@french_report78) October 1, 2026

The blockades and clashes, which began in the Île-de-France region, have now reached schools nationwide, with 356 schools affected on Wednesday. In the Paris region, 75 lycées were disrupted, 36 of them the scene of violence, clashes or damage, according to regional authorities.

Protests have also been reported in Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Nantes and Rennes. In Lille, masked pupils set bins alight outside one lycée, while in Rennes around a hundred students hurled projectiles at the city’s largest high school. At one lycée in the Paris suburbs, teachers formed a line around protesting students in an attempt to shield them from police.

‼️🔥🇫🇷 𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗥𝗧𝗘 𝗜𝗡𝗙𝗢 — Le lycée Nelson-Mandela, à Nantes, est ravagé par les flammes à la suite d’un incendie volontaire survenu lors d’un blocus de l’établissement. pic.twitter.com/caVk3Hbxcq

— Bastion (@BastionMediaFR) October 1, 2026

The students say classes are too large, teachers are in short supply and school buildings are in poor condition. The demonstrators are aged between 15 and 18, and have also complained about timetables and uncomfortable classrooms during heatwaves.

A 16-year-old pupil told AFP that classes of 34 pupils were common and that there were not enough teachers. According to the Union syndicale lycéenne (USL), around 400 of the country’s 3,700 lycées have been hit by blockades or other action.

🔴🔥 ALERTE INFO | Des groupes de « lycéens » commencent à semer la dévastation dans Saint-Etienne (42), allument des feux contre les véhicules et prennent pour cible un établissement catholique. pic.twitter.com/TgFPIPtw1Z

— French Report (@french_report78) October 1, 2026

The unrest, which coincided on Tuesday with a broader public-sector strike, has become a political flashpoint at a sensitive moment for France. Politicians from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party have joined the demonstrations. French President Emmanuel Macron has criticised hard-left politicians for allegedly legitimising the unrest.

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said earlier this week that any escalation would be irresponsible, and accused LFI of encouraging the protests. The Paris police prefect has referred LFI mayor Bally Bagayoko to the courts over alleged incitement to commit an offence. Bagayoko, who was quoted as saying violence is sometimes legitimate, says his words were taken out of context.

🔴🔥 FLASH | Tirs de mortiers et gros incendie devant les grilles du lycée Saint-Exupéry de La Rochelle (18). pic.twitter.com/DMtwcmhRsK

— French Report (@french_report78) October 1, 2026

Geffray condemned the violence, saying attacks on public servants who dedicate their lives to their pupils could never be accepted. Nuñez has said police acted in an “extremely proportionate” manner. He also said there had been seven incidents in which hydrochloric acid was thrown at officers.

Geffray has announced that a consultation platform will open shortly, allowing pupils’ demands and concerns to be gathered through the regional education authorities. The USL has called for a second day of action on 6 October.

🔴🔥 FLASH | La situation à Rennes (35) Jean Jaurès était particulièrement délicate. pic.twitter.com/N5co0lXSjO

— French Report (@french_report78) September 30, 2026

Photographs: Reuters