Posted by Boggart Bloggers
Wednesday 1 October 2026
Picture: Remix News
In France students of immigrant family background have been on the rampage across the country this week, with teachers being doused in petrol (gasoline,) and injured, schools and buses set on fire, and hundreds of arrests reported. News buletins in France this morning show buses and schools on fire after days of rioting. French Prime Minister Lecornu was forced to convene an interministerial emergency meeting at 1 p.m. to seek ways of containing the crisis.
Rioting and civil unrest have been a regular feature of French life during President Macron's second term in office and several times it seemed as if Macron's government was on the brink of collapse as protesters clashed with riot police in major cities.
Images of violence and vicious assaults, along with a report of attempted murder, hit France this morning, Oct. 1, as the high school riots began their second week across France. What began as protests demanding better conditions for students and teachers has devolved into violence at dozens of locations, concentrated at schools with large immigrant populations
Further clashes, burning buses, and arson attacks have been reported. French news outlet BFMTV is even speaking of murder attempts being carried out by certain students in one incident where the leadership team of one school in Marseille narrowly escaped death when students tried to set him on fire.
Protests over crowded classrooms, teacher shortages and lengthy school days have spread across France, with police detaining more than 400 people, many of them minors, on Tuesday.
The movement began at high schools in the Paris area last week before spreading across the entire country. Some school blockades turned violent as protesters burned rubbish bins and hurled bottles at officers, who responded with batons and tear gas. It is noteworthy that the confrontational attitude of the French police only serves to escalate tensions during times of civil unrest. Authorities said 48 law enforcement officers were injured.
The unrest coincided with a public sector strike over the government’s budget plans, adding to political tensions and a headache for Emmanuel Macron ahead of next year’s presidential election when Macron or his chosen successor will face a major challenge from Marine Le Pen and her anti - immigration party Rassemblement National. Mass immigration and the ensuing social problems have become the major political issue all over Europe.
In the working-class suburbs of Aubervilliers and Montreuil, protesting students criticized a lack of resources and expressed the feeling of being left out, while rejecting claims that they are manipulated by radical-left politicians.
The high school protest movement, now in its second week, keeps gaining momentum. Actions were reported at nearly 410 schools across France on Tuesday, September 29, more than 11% of the country's public and private high schools. The Union syndicale lycéenne, a high school student's union, had called for the movement to spread nationwide to coincide with the civil servant strike, after a week of protests and sporadic blockades in the Paris region. The Education Ministry reported "45 total blockades" and "46 attempted blockades."
Picture:AOL
Some actions led to violent incidents. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced Tuesday evening that 440 arrests were made, mostly of minors. However, most of the protests took place peacefully, bringing together hundreds or even thousands of students with a wide range of grievances.
The Paris region, where the movement started, still accounted for 75 disrupted schools today. Outside the Le Corbusier high school in Aubervilliers, a working-class suburb north-east of Paris in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis, it took only half an hour for the handful of students initially stationed at the gates to be joined by dozens more. "Groups were set up on Snapchat to tell us about the blockade. Word of mouth did the rest," said Kanou and Wiam, both seniors.
Reports say over 350 high schools and about 30 university campuses were affected by the movement on Thursday alone. RFI reported 83 police and gendarmes were wounded today, with 119 students and school staffers injured since the start of unrest last week.
Reuters reported the principal of Marseille’s Victor Hugo high school was doused in gasoline and injured, while two other principals were injured in attacks in Rouen and Petit-Quevilly. Police used tear gas in several cities, with Reuters reporting students accusing authorities of heavy‑handed tactics. Meanwhile, authorities are warning of "urban violence" and attempted arson at multiple schools.
The protests coincide with the government announcing a series of unpopular spending cuts in its 2027 budget two weeks ago and have become a political flashpoint at a sensitive moment for the French government.
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