Police fire teargas as French students, teachers, parents take to streets

Police fire teargas as French students, teachers, parents take to streets.

Key points

• French Finance Minister Roland Lescure remarked on Tuesday there was no need for the European Central Bank to step in.
• The High School Students Union remarked more than half of France's high schools were blockaded or would close for the day.
• The yield on France's 10-year bonds briefly hit a 24-year high of over five per cent last week.
• France's interior ministry remarked 6, 100 residents have been arrested since the protests began, the overwhelming majority of them minors.
• "They want to divide the young people into good and bad protesters, " remarked Omar Slaouti, a high-school teacher in Argenteuil, a northwestern suburb of Paris.

Police fire teargas as French students, teachers, parents take to streets. Reuters Published October 6, 2026 Updated October 6, 2026 09: 28pm. Join our Whatsapp Channel.

Police fired tear gas at protesters outside French high schools on Tuesday as students, teachers and parents took to the streets on the biggest day of what Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu described as the most violent school protests in decades.

Notably, the protests, in which a teenager lost a hand on Monday, were the latest manifestation of public anger in a country where the far right and far left are surging ahead of a presidential election in the spring.

For context, the administration is under pressure to tame public debt against the backdrop of subdued expansion, and has struggled with basic tasks such as passing a budget since President Emmanuel Macron's allies lost their majority in a 2024 parliamentary vote.

Lecornu informed lawmakers at least 215 teenagers and 85 school staff had so far been injured in clashes, "the heaviest toll in decades paid by the school system". His office remarked more than 700 police officers were additionally hurt.

Macron has convened Lecornu and other senior ministers at an emergency session on Tuesday, broadcaster BFM noted.

In Marseille and Nantes, protesters held up signs reading "The state has killed national education". In Toulouse, parents linked arms at the front of a march through the city.

In Strasbourg, Lyon, Rennes and Paris, the demonstrations at times turned violent, with police firing tear gas and protesters lighting fires in the streets and hurling projectiles.

Notably, the Paris police remarked the clashes there had come concerning when some 300 individuals attempted to face off against security forces, adding that the protest was generally unfolding well elsewhere.

By late afternoon they remarked they were still clashing with a small contingent of residents. Three storefronts had been damaged.

For context, the protests began in September in the deprived suburbs of Paris, before spreading nationwide.

"There is such a gap between the elites and us, " remarked Hugo Vetzel, a recent high-school graduate in Strasbourg.

For context, the High School Students Union remarked more than half of France's high schools were blockaded or would close for the day. Some local education authorities have tried to move classes online.

Students complain regarding schools facing basic maintenance difficulties, from water leaks to rat infestations.

Rights groups, students and parent groups have accused authorities of using disproportionate force against minors. The administration states the protest movement has been hijacked by outsiders and in some places deteriorated into urban violence.

France's interior ministry remarked 6, 100 residents have been arrested since the protests began, the overwhelming majority of them minors. More than 1, 800 individuals are being prosecuted for unspecified crimes, including 1, 483 minors, the justice ministry stated.

Notably, a teenager's hand was blown off as high-school protesters clashed with riot police in northern France on Monday. The regional newspaper, La Voix du Nord, remarked the 15-year-old lost his hand and part of his lower arm after picking up a police grenade intended to be non-lethal.

"They want to divide the young people into good and bad protesters, " remarked Omar Slaouti, a high-school teacher in Argenteuil, a northwestern suburb of Paris. "If there were no trash cans on fire, the government would not have stepped back and become aware of the issues at stake."

Six months before an election to replace Macron, his administration and far-right leader Marine Le Pen's National Rally party have accused hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) lawmakers and mayors of stoking the unrest. LFI denies the accusation.

"All the young individuals are in the streets. Everywhere there aren't police, everything is going smoothly, " remarked Jean-Luc Melenchon, LFI's presidential candidate. Prime minister promises a response.

Lecornu has ordered his ministers to tackle the students' leading demands. Those include ensuring absent teachers are replaced, reviewing the length of the 8am to 6pm school day and the need for longer lunch breaks.

For context, the administration will additionally look at repairs needed to ageing school buildings, noted Lecornu. This person demanded ministers send in their first proposals by the end of October.

Parent Emilie Lhomme remarked at a protest outside the Helene Boucher school in Paris that the government's words were not enough: "That's all fine and dandy, but that's not what's going to change the daily lives of our children, " she stated. Finding spare cash to implement educational reforms will be tough.

For context, the administration is under pressure to try to narrow a ballooning budget deficit as investor worries regarding France's growing debt, fragile expansion and reluctance to rein in spending push the cost of borrowing higher. The yield on France's 10-year bonds briefly hit a 24-year high of over five per cent last week.

For context, the surge in French borrowing costs has began to spill into the broader euro area, with the sliding euro currency the latest alarm bell for policy makers. French Finance Minister Roland Lescure remarked on Tuesday there was no need for the European Central Bank to step in.

Le Pen, the far-right euro-sceptic populist leading the presidential race ahead of next spring's election, set out intends to slash public spending if elected, seeking to establish her fiscal credibility as the bond market crisis deepens.

French spending on education has lagged inflation and the country's students are trailing their OECD peers in overall performance, data from the PISA 2025 assessment demonstrates.

Taken together, the developments around police fire teargas as French students, teachers, parents take to streets point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.