French PM warns against escalation of school protests after 164 arrested

What the report says

France’s Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has urged restraint as student-led protests and school blockades spread across the country, warning that any further escalation would be irresponsible. The BBC reported that the unrest began in the Paris region and has since extended to other parts of France, with teenagers blocking schools over complaints including overcrowded classes, shortages of teachers and staff, and pressure linked to the national higher-education admissions system.

According to the BBC, police detained 164 people on Monday. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 12 members of the security forces, 12 students and three school staff were injured, and that 180 schools were affected. The article said there were reports of vandalism and fireworks being aimed at police, while the government and student representatives offered sharply different accounts of the demonstrations.

Lecornu condemned the reported violence, saying nothing could justify endangering students, staff or officers. A student union defended the protests as a legitimate reaction to conditions in schools and called for more blockades, while teachers, hospital workers and civil servants also planned a day of strikes over pay and working conditions. The BBC said the government is facing pressure to address long-running complaints about resources in France’s education system, even as officials describe some of the unrest as public-order violence.