Clashes between French teens, police as school blockades intensify

French high school students set fires, threw projectiles, and blockaded roughly 40 of the country's 3,700 lycées on Tuesday, with attempted blockades at 44 more, according to the Education Ministry. Police answered with batons and tear gas; 40 arrests and 10 injuries were reported nationwide, following 164 arrests the day before.

The students, ages 15 to 18, are protesting overcrowded classes, teacher shortages, and overheated classrooms during recent heat waves. Clashes were reported in Lille, Nantes, Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux, Lyon, and Rennes, with masked students burning bins and vandalizing bus shelters.

The unrest coincided with nationwide union strikes over Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's budget, drawing an estimated 300,000 marchers by union counts and 30,000 in Paris by police estimates. Lecornu called further escalation 'irresponsible' and blamed the hard-left France Unbowed party, while a local mayor who joined the protests called the students' anger 'completely legitimate.'

The full dispatch is available from the source below.