French School Protests Escalate as Tear Gas Deployed in Paris and Marseille

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators flooded streets across France on Tuesday as a protest movement that began with high-school pupils expanded to include parents, university students and trade unions, prompting police to deploy tear gas in Paris and Marseille and water cannon in Rennes.

The wave of discontent, which students have branded "Act Three" of their campaign, represents one of the most significant challenges to the French government in recent months. Crowds of teenagers marched from the Place de la République in Paris, demanding greater resources for schools and an end to what they describe as heavy-handed policing.

Clashes between police and demonstrators erupted in Lyon, while officers in the capital and the southern port city of Marseille fired tear gas canisters to disperse crowds. In Rennes, authorities resorted to water cannon. Despite the tense scenes, the day passed with far less serious disorder than had marred earlier rounds of protest.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu condemned the violence that had occurred during previous demonstrations, revealing that 215 students and 85 school staff members had been injured since the movement began, along with 715 police officers. His remarks underscored the growing physical toll of the unrest on all sides.

According to government figures, disruption affected 891 high schools on Tuesday, nearly a quarter of all lycées in the country. Officials estimated that more than 250,000 people had taken part in demonstrations during the day. Student unions, however, offered a significantly higher estimate of 450,000 participants and claimed that 1,800 high schools had been blockaded.

In Marseille, thousands of protesters wound their way through the city, pausing to chant before moving on as police adjusted their positions. A group of masked demonstrators seized bollards and bins in an attempt to erect barricades, prompting riot officers to fire tear gas and scatter the crowd.

"Most of us aren't violent," said Alissa, a student in Marseille. "We're going to the streets because they've closed our schools... schools are falling apart." Her friend Sacha added that ceilings in the city's schools were leaking and conditions were generally poor. "We will keep doing this until good measures are taken," he said.

The protests originated in mid-September in Seine-Saint-Denis, a suburb north of Paris, where local anger focused on overcrowded classrooms, a shortage of teaching staff and deteriorating school buildings. Since then, the movement has spread across the country and extended to some universities.

In parliament, the prime minister accused the radical-left France Unbowed party of attempting to "sow chaos" ahead of presidential elections scheduled in seven months. The political dimension of the crisis has intensified as President Emmanuel Macron approaches the end of his second and final term, with LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon currently polling second behind Marine Le Pen of the hard-right National Rally.

Macron was scheduled to chair a meeting with ministers at the Élysée Palace on Tuesday evening to evaluate the situation. The gathering signalled the government's recognition of the seriousness of the challenge posed by the sustained protests.

Education Minister Édouard Geffray said he had consistently appealed for dialogue rather than school blockades and complained that "ultra-violent elements infiltrated the high-school student movements." He now faces mounting pressure to address the students' demands. Measures offered so far, including a website for students to voice grievances and an afternoon of internal discussion in schools on Friday, have done little to quell the unrest.

There appears to be no imminent end to the protests. France's largest union, the CGT, has announced that further demonstrations involving school and university students are being planned for Thursday, suggesting the movement will continue to build momentum.

Concern has been widespread over allegations of "disproportionate force" by police, and France's IGPN police inspectorate has been investigating a number of cases. One officer who fired a tear-gas grenade at a high-school student in Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône, north-west of Paris, last week has been charged by prosecutors with "violence... resulting in mutilation or permanent disability."

Eden, 14, was part of a group blockading the Château d'Épluches lycée for 15-to-18-year-olds when he was struck in the face. His lawyer said he suffered a fractured jaw, broken upper teeth and the loss of four lower teeth.

On Monday, a 15-year-old lost a hand after a so-called anti-encirclement grenade was fired in unclear circumstances near a school in the northern city of Lens. Authorities claim he picked up the "sting ball" grenade which then exploded, but students allege he was hit directly after an officer fired. The grenade is classified as a non-lethal weapon, and the local prefect said the incident occurred when police were confronted by a group of 200 to 250 students throwing stones and fireworks.

The protests have become a focal point for broader frustrations about the state of France's public education system, with demonstrators arguing that years of underinvestment have left schools unable to function properly. The involvement of parents and unions has widened the movement's base beyond students alone, complicating the government's response.

With further protests already scheduled and no sign of the government meeting the core demands, the crisis appears set to continue, testing both the administration's ability to manage dissent and its capacity to address long-standing grievances in the education sector.