More than 5,000 arrested in student protests in France

French authorities arrested more than 1,700 people on Friday as part of a student protest movement marked by the closure of high schools and acts of violence in recent days, while organizers called for continued mobilization on Tuesday amid a lack of “concrete measures.”

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Friday evening that 1,747 people had been arrested that day alone, bringing the total number of arrests since Monday to more than 5,000, following the closure of high schools.

The protests began on September 17 in the Paris region before rapidly spreading across the country, where final-year high school students blocked entrances to their schools and clashed with police.

Students say that school hours are excessively long and that conditions in schools are inadequate, including high temperatures in classrooms, as well as frequent staff shortages.

The protests have also taken on a political dimension, less than six months before the presidential elections, with the government accusing the radical left La France Insoumise party, whose leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon is running for president, of backing the movement.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Edouard Philippe announced, after meeting with protest organizers on Friday, the imminent launch of an “action plan” to “accelerate the replacement” of teachers, particularly in the first and final years of high school.

He acknowledged that he would not be in a position to make a decision regarding the start of the 2027 academic year, which will follow the presidential elections.

The Union Syndicale Lycéenne (USL) responded by calling for “continued mobilization... and joining the third-term movement on Tuesday,” a day of major national demonstrations, according to Riad Rani, president of the student union.

A broad coalition of national education unions called for participation, “including through strikes.”