French protests continue to escalate with 400 schools closed on Friday

Pictured is the burn-out entrance of Roger Verlomme secondary school in Paris. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP via Getty Images)

Some 100 schools have been severely damaged during the French high school protests that escalated this week into “urban violence,” with 40 headteachers injured, according to the latest figures from the French education ministry.

The pupils’ grievances range from overloaded timetables and overcrowded classes to insufficient teachers and unbearable temperatures during heatwaves earlier this year. Riot police have been deployed to confront the increasingly violent protests.

Nearly 3,000 lycée students – aged between 15 and 18 – have been detained since the start of the protests, including 1,949 on Thursday alone, the interior ministry said.

During a call with local prosecutors last night, the justice minister Gérald Darmanin urged them to pursue civil liability claims so that parents are made financially responsible for damage caused by their children.

Meanwhile, education minister Édouard Geffray asked parents for help, warning that “children are in danger on the streets.” 

There are no signs of tensions going down, with first incidents reported near the Jean-Rostand high school in Strasbourg and the Simone-Veil high school in Marseille. 

Some 400 schools remain closed on Friday.

The situation appears to be escalating again in Strasbourg, where protesters are building a barrier and clashing with the local police.

Damages from this week’s protests are likely to go into hundreds of millions euros, with the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region reporting €25 million in damages.

- The Guardian