School protests spread across France as political crisis deepens

A wave of protests is spreading across France, as frustration over school conditions merges with anger over the high cost of living and a government seen as doing too little to address people's problems. According to the French Interior Ministry, about 550,000 people demonstrated nationwide on Saturday. Most of the rallies were peaceful, but a small group attacked buildings, looted shops and clashed with police, forcing officers to fire tear gas and move in to disperse crowds.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said 1,200 people were arrested and 150 police officers injured. Behind the clashes lies a political crisis rooted in outrage over deteriorating public services and squeezed household budgets, compounded by a sense that France's political institutions offer no hope of change.

A widening movement and its demands

The movement began last month in high schools in the northern suburbs of Paris, where students protested against teacher shortages and poor facilities. School blockades and demonstrations then spread to cities including Bordeaux, Rennes, Nantes, Lyon, Lille and Marseille.

Saturday saw students, unions and supporters of the "yellow vest" movement — which emerged in 2018 against rising living costs and economic inequality — converge. Emile Chabal, a professor of contemporary history at the University of Edinburgh, told Al Jazeera the protests were "the inevitable outcome of a sequence of protests" stretching back to the yellow vests. He said the movement was driven by financial pressure and discontent with the "French presidential system" — a structure that tends to produce centrist candidates such as President Emmanuel Macron.

Saturday's events combined that long-standing discontent with students' anger over the decline of public schools. Merging students' demands with broader social grievances represents "the worst-case scenario possible for the French government," Chabal said.

The students' immediate demands concern conditions at public high schools (lycées), which generally serve pupils aged 15 to 18. They want smaller classes, enough teachers, better facilities and a less punishing timetable. Those grievances also reflect wider concerns about whether the state can provide the education and opportunities young people need. For workers, including school staff, the dispute also involves pay and the resources needed to deliver public services.

The school protests coincide with a public-sector general strike against the government's budget plans. The draft 2027 budget proposes a package of spending cuts and tax adjustments worth 54 billion euros ($60.8 billion), which the government says is needed to reduce the deficit. The proposals include freezing the pay scale used to calculate civil servants' base salaries — which, according to unions, would be the fourth consecutive freeze in four years.

Sociologist and political scientist Donatella della Porta argues that students are inspiring a broader wave of mobilization over inequality, cuts to public investment and democratic rights, with demands for spending on social welfare rather than militarization. "They don't want to go to war; they want a different future," she told Al Jazeera. She also linked the movement to youth mobilization over Gaza, with Palestinian flags appearing at protests in several European countries.

The government's response

The government's immediate response has focused on public order. President Macron declared that those responsible for violence would be "prosecuted and punished." His remarks came as a fire nearly destroyed the historic city hall in Limoges, while public buildings and shops were attacked elsewhere.

Yet those involved in violence were a small minority within a far larger mobilization. Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the left-wing France Unbowed party, accused the government of repressing students and allowing confrontation to escalate. His argument reflects a broader political dispute over whether the government treats the protests primarily as a security problem or addresses the grievances that have brought different groups together.

Experts say France's problems go beyond disagreements over individual budget measures and reflect deeper discontent. Chabal said the political paralysis since the 2024 parliamentary election — when no bloc won an absolute majority — has created "an environment in which no party or political movement can lead social discontent." That fragmentation makes it hard to build lasting agreements on spending, taxes or public services, and leaves protesters asking whether a change of government would produce real policy change.

According to Chabal, the protests are also a "heavy blow" for Macron, as promises of youthful energy and a reformed, dynamic France have been eroded by "an inability to communicate his political project and a deeply unsympathetic manner." He said unrest, including violence, sometimes appears on the fringes of French protests, with direct-action tactics tied to the yellow vest movement. Targets have included shops and — more unusually — public buildings. The destruction of Limoges city hall is considered especially serious given the building's place in French civic history.

Other researchers stress the role of policing. Guya Accornero, an expert on social movements at the University Institute of Lisbon, said past confrontations have created lasting tension between protesters and police. According to Human Rights Watch, during the current protests a 15-year-old boy lost a hand to a police stun grenade, while a 14-year-old suffered a fractured jaw after being hit by a tear gas canister fired at close range. The organization condemned the excessive use of force against children, saying the protests have been largely peaceful. "Young people have been harshly repressed even when using non-disruptive methods," she told Al Jazeera.

Who stands to gain politically?

The experts who spoke to Al Jazeera offered no clear answer. Paul Smith, an associate professor of French history and politics at the University of Nottingham, believes far-right leader Marine Le Pen could benefit. "I only see one beneficiary and that's Le Pen," he said, arguing that the unrest could also damage Melenchon's presidential prospects.

Chabal cautioned against assuming the far right will come out ahead, but said the historical fear of disorder has tended to favor conservative or centrist parties in France, including after the 1968 protests. Le Pen did not entirely reject the protesters' grievances, describing them on X on Saturday as "legitimate social demands" while saying they had been "taken hostage by the extreme left." The far right may seek to profit from public discontent, but according to the experts it is more likely to direct anger toward immigration and blame immigrants, rather than faulting the structures of neoliberalism and capitalism as Melenchon suggests.

With the presidential election due in April 2027, candidates face a double pressure: proving they can restore order while convincing voters they will address the conditions behind the wave of mobilization. According to Chabal, the challenge is how to produce change in "an environment in which no party or political movement can lead social discontent."