France's high school students have been blockading their schools since late September over missing teachers, packed classrooms and crumbling buildings. Last Friday, the education ministry said more than 96% of high schools were open again. Then on Tuesday, the interior ministry counted 161,500 marchers across France, more than double the turnout five days earlier. Unions put the number at 480,000. On Wednesday, Education Minister Édouard Geffray said just under 200 schools were still closed. Human Rights Watch said police had used excessive force against children. The justice ministry says police have detained more than 6,800 people since the protests began, and 86% of them were minors. One 15-year-old lost a hand to a police stun grenade.

1. The Schools Are Broken, and Paris Is Offering Crumbs (Student Union Representative Marius Mesnil, LFI Leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon)

Students say the government still isn't listening, and they won't stop until it pays to fix their schools.

Students say they don't have enough chairs. "We are 35 per class, we don't have enough chairs in classrooms," a 15-year-old in Pantin told Reuters. Ministry data show nearly 10% of teaching hours in public secondary schools went untaught in 2024-25. Students also cite heat, leaks, and stress over Parcoursup, the national platform that sorts university applications.

They say the offers so far are crumbs. Marius Mesnil, a student union representative, said last week, "We're being offered a few crumbs." Students rejected Geffray's pledge to send 3,000 substitute teachers to the 114 worst-hit schools. "We're here because we really feel we're not being heard by the government," Nina, 17, said Tuesday.

A slim majority of the public is on their side. An Ipsos-BVA poll published Sunday found 54% of French people back the protests. The far-left France Unbowed party (LFI) backs the students. Its leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, marched in Paris on Tuesday. He wrote that the government "immediately targeted LFI as a convenient devil."

2. The Government Is Working on a Fix, but It Won't Reward Violence (Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, President Emmanuel Macron)

The government says a plan is coming this month, and burning schools won't speed it up.

Lecornu says a plan is coming by the end of the month. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu promised Sunday to amend the 2027 budget to answer some of the students' demands. He has promised a timeline and funding plan by the end of October. It will cover teacher replacement, school buildings, the school day, and Parcoursup. Geffray said Wednesday that the government will propose Parcoursup improvements.

Violence won't win anything, he says. Lecornu says Paris won't "yield an inch" to violence. "The situation is serious enough without needing a political class that fans the flames and stokes the violence," he wrote on X. President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that the issues "deserve time, consultations, discussion and respect." Geffray blames the violence on small, ultra-violent far-left groups.

Money is tight. Macron's government is struggling to pass a cost-cutting budget as France's debt grows. Education already gets the second-largest increase in the draft budget, after defense.

3. The Far Left Is Using Children (National Rally Leader Marine Le Pen, Presidential Candidates Bruno Retailleau and Gabriel Attal)

France's right and center say LFI turned a school protest into riots ahead of next year's election.

Le Pen blames LFI lawmakers. Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally called the unrest "riots organised by professionals and overseen by deputies from LFI." Her party's president, Jordan Bardella, said Tuesday that "nothing justifies burning down schools."

Two presidential candidates say LFI is exploiting kids. Bruno Retailleau, the conservative Republicans' candidate, has floated banning LFI. Gabriel Attal, the centrist Renaissance candidate, accused LFI of using young people as "political cannon fodder." In an Odoxa-Backbone poll for Le Figaro, 61% said LFI had overstepped its role in the movement.

4. The Police Are Treating Children Like Enemies (Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International)

Rights groups say police have mistreated teenagers.

Human Rights Watch says the protests were overwhelmingly peaceful. In a statement Wednesday, the group said police used tear gas, stun grenades, batons and rubber bullets on children. "French authorities should stop treating peacefully protesting children as a danger that needs to be neutralized," researchers Eva Cossé and Almaz Teffera wrote. A tear-gas canister fired at close range shattered one 14-year-old's jaw.

Amnesty says children should be protected, not beaten. Amnesty International France president Anne Savinel-Barras said young protesters "must be protected rather than being beaten, tear-gassed, or arbitrarily detained." Police are running more than 30 internal investigations into their own officers. Amnesty also opposes a government bill that would make protesters pay up to €10,000 for damage even without proof they caused it. The Senate is set to debate it on October 27.

Where This Lands

Students say their schools are falling apart and the government has offered crumbs. A slim majority of the public backs their protests. Lecornu says a plan is coming by the end of October, but he won't give ground to violence. Le Pen, Retailleau and Attal blame the far left for the unrest. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty say police have answered teenagers with tear gas and grenades. Unions and students expect to join Saturday's national cost-of-living marches.

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