Summary

  • Fires are burning across parts of France as riot police are responding to student protests over school conditions

  • Images from this afternoon show burning barricades in Pantin, bins set alight in Paris and crowds of protesters and riot police on the streets

  • More than 500 schools are facing disruption. At least 65 staff members have been injured in the unrest, the country's education ministry says

  • The demonstrations - over a lack of teachers, overcrowded classrooms and run-down buildings - started earlier this week in Paris then spread across the country

  • "We are angry," one 16-year-old in Paris tells the BBC, adding "a lot of noise" is needed to bring about change in French schools

  • France's justice minister, Gerald Darmanin, says: "We have gone from high-school student demonstrations to a public order disturbance"

  • Some of the violence and damage has been truly shocking, with teenagers suffering eye injuries and one losing his teeth, writes our digital Europe editor

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Live Reporting

Edited by Jenna Moon, with James Waterhouse reporting from Paris

  1. BBC Verify

    Verified videos show violence and disorder in Marseille

    A side-by-side of two screengrab showing a fire engine being attacked by people in black, then it being set on fireX

    By Paul Brown and Shayan Sardarizadeh

    One video shows a group of masked people, some of whom are dressed all in black, attacking a fire engine outside Lycee Saint-Expury, a school in France’s second largest city.

    The group can be seen hitting the emergency vehicle with blunt objects and smashing its windows.

    At one point a bright flame is seen in the driver's cab, and a cheer from the crowd can be heard.

    A second video also shows protesters attacking the fire engine, with one individual seen brandishing a saw. The vehicle is then seen fully engulfed in flame.

    Aftermath photos of the scene show the fire engine completely burned out on the road, as well as the school building daubed in graffiti.

    Another video, also filmed yesterday by a bus stop near the city’s port, shows a hooded individual spraying what appears to be a makeshift aerosol flamethrower at a woman’s face, before walking away.

    The details of the attack and the extent of the woman’s injuries are unclear.

  2. Parents should be liable for children's actions, says justice minister

    French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin looks over his left shoulder at a meeting. He is wearing a dark suit and is in front of a light blue backgroundGetty Images

    We can bring you a bit more from French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin, who has spoken to local media today.

    He has said he wants parents to be liable for damage caused by children during the school protests.

    He tells France's RTL radio that parents should be held accountable for their children's actions and explains he has asked prosecutors to seek "civil liability" from parents to cover the cost of damages.

    He says: "Parents must fulfill their responsibilities as parents. What are 15 and 16-year-old kids doing attacking bus shelters or their school principals?"

  3. Union member says students 'fundamentally right' to demand better conditions

    Vincent Martin, a 49-year-old member of an education union in France, tells Reuters he is attending a protest in support of his daughter and her classmates who had blockaded access to their high school.

    "We’re here both to support them, because we believe they’re fundamentally right to demand more teachers, better learning conditions, classrooms that aren’t overheated, and substitute teachers when their regular teachers are absent," he says.

    "There are 36 students per class in 10th grade. These aren’t ideal conditions for studying."

  4. Shock of Nantes school fire devastates students

    Paul Kirby
    Europe digital editor

    Firefighters manage the damaged entrance hall at Nelson Mandela High School in Nantes, western France on October 1, 2026. after a 'deliberately set fire' engulfed the lobby of the establishment which was under blockade by students.AFP

    The school in Nantes will remain closed for several weeks

    Students stood outside the lycée Nelson-Mandela in Nantes yesterday, some of them in tears as they watched the attractive glass facade burn down as fire spread inside the building and damaged the cafeteria and other areas.

    The Nantes fire has become one of the defining images of the school protests, and it has prompted widespread anger.

    "Today my high-school burned. OUR school," one teenager called Juliette posted on Instagram. "People from outside... (non-pupils) came to blockade the school; things degenerated and they started a fire."

    Although it was one of three schools in the city where fires were lit, the Nelson-Mandela stands out as it is only 12 years old. It cost €64m (£54m) to build and provides education for 1,700 students. Like most of the other school fires, it apparently began with protesters setting fire to bins outside the school.

    There is a widepread belief that the students' campaign is often being hijacked by external casseurs (vandals) and it means that many pupils whose schools have been damaged or closed are having to continue their education remotely, if their safety cannot be guaranteed.

    Nelson-Mandela high school won't reopen until the end of the half-term break early next month.

  5. Some protests on Thursday led to disorder around France

    What started as a coordinated blockade of secondary schools across France has spiralled into disorder in some parts of the country.

    Many of those protesting are doing so peacefully. But on Thursday, some demonstrations escalated into violent incidents and prompted the government to call a crisis meeting with its intelligence agencies.

    These pictures were all captured on Thursday.

    A rally in central Brest, western FranceAFP via Getty Images

    A rally in central Brest, western France

    A row of riot police stand behind a burning bin and one protesterAFP via Getty Images

    Riot police confront protesters outside Le Corbusier secondary school in Aubervilliers, north of Paris

    Burnt in front of the Blaise Pascal high school entrance in Rouen, north-west FranceAFP via Getty Images

    The entry to Blaise Pascal high school is burnt in Rouen, north-west France

    Students hold placards and raise their fists in the airNurPhoto via Getty Images

    Many students have been protesting peacefully - including outside this school in Strasbourg, France

    A burnt fire truck outside Saint-Exupéry high school in northern MarseilleAFP via Getty Images

    This fire truck was burnt outside Saint-Exupéry high school in northern Marseille

  6. 'We've won' because school is closed today, protester says

    A police officer with a riot shield stands in the shade at the end of a street. At the other end of the road a small fire can be seen in the road. Several people can be seen standing watching on from a bus shelter nearbyGetty Images

    High school students confront authorities in Rennes, western France, on Thursday

    Students dressed in black and wearing balaclavas are protesting outside a high school in the city of Rennes in western France. Students there have spoken to journalists from AFP news agency.

    "As far as we're concerned, we've won - our school is closed this morning," Lola, a 16-year-old protester tells the AFP.

    She condemns what she describes as police violence.

    "It makes us even angrier - the police have no right to hit us or use tear gas on us."

  7. Photos from France show blazes and police confronting protesters

    These are some of the latest pictures coming in to us from across France, where disorder is continuing, sparked by a wave of student protests against conditions in schools.

    In Paris, emergency personnel have been working to put out fires, while police in Brest are deploying tear gas on some demonstrators.

    A protester throws a stop sign into a fire near Kerichen High School in Brest, western FranceAFP via Getty Images

    A protester throws a stop sign into a fire near Kerichen High School in Brest, western France

    Thick plumes of tear gas cover people wearing black jumpers and face coverings who stand against riot policeAFP via Getty Images

    Police have used tear gas against protesters in Brest

    The burnt-out entrance to Roger Verlomme secondary school in Paris with charred lime bikes and rubbish lying outsideAFP via Getty Images

    The charred entrance to Roger Verlomme secondary school in Paris this morning

    Emergency responders put out a fire burning outside a schoolAFP via Getty Images

    Firefighters put out a blaze outside Leonard de Vinci secondary school in Paris

  8. French justice minister says 'not entirely sure' all protesters are students

    French Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin wears a blue suit as he steps out of a building at the Elysee Palace in ParisReuters

    French Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin has said there is an "active and violent minority" taking part in the protests.

    "We're not entirely sure that they are even high school students themselves," he tells France's RTL radio. He adds that two-thirds of the 2,000 people arrested since protests began have been placed in police custody.

    "We have gone from high-school student demonstrations to a public order disturbance. When people target buses and set schools on fire, it is no longer simply a protest issue," he adds.

  9. More than 100 schools severely damaged since protests began, says education minister

    An employee in an orange vest washes graffiti off the front street near a school. The entrance has been burnt and there is debris scattered across the streetGetty Images

    An employee cleans a graffiti at the entrance of Nelson Mandela's high school after a fire

    French Education Minister Édouard Geffray says "more than a hundred" schools have experienced "severe damage" since the beginning of the protests.

    He tells French broadcaster BFMTV that 65 staff members were injured, including 40 head teachers, and that 1,207 high schools were disrupted or blocked on Thursday.

    Geffray adds that 160 students had to be evacuated by staff at Nelson Mandela high school in Nantes, western France.

    The education minister argues that the student protests movement had been "hijacked" and that teachers had told him that "the people in front of me were not my students".

  10. Students, unions, politicians: Who is involved in the school protest movement

    Ryad Rani, president of the USL union for secondary schools in FranceAFP via Getty Images

    Ryad Rani, president of the USL union for secondary schools in France

    Though protests first broke out in schools around Paris last month, the demonstrations spread nationwide after France's main union for secondary school students called for a nationwide blockade.

    Union Syndicale Lycéenne (USL) called for the school blockade last week because, it said, "other student actions, such as petitions or demonstrations, elicit no response from our political leaders".

    This blockade, which took place on Tuesday, was organised to coincide with a wider public sector strike against spending cuts in the government's draft budget.

    With teachers among those striking on Tuesday, education union Fédération Syndicale Unitaire (FSU) backed the movement and called for the "fight for public services and education to become a collective struggle" in a statement on Thursday.

    But the protests have also become a site for party political sparring, with the government and hard-right politicians blaming the hard left - in particular the radical La France Insoumise (LFI) party - for igniting the protests. LFI's leader said blaming the left would not solve issues underlying the demonstrations.

  11. Genuine grievances overshadowed by spiralling violence

    Paul Kirby
    Europe digital editor

    Riot police face off against a teenager in BordeauxAFP

    An increasing number of students, teachers and police have been injured in days of protests

    Not enough teachers, overcrowded classrooms, a shortage of chairs and dilapidated school buildings - the grievances of France’s lycée students are real, and backed up by their teachers.

    Education Minister Édouard Geffray conceded at the start that some of the students’ demands were "legitimate". One teacher in the Gironde summed it up by saying "their demands are the same as ours".

    But some of the violence and damage over the past few days has been truly shocking.

    Teenagers have suffered eye injuries, and one has lost his teeth as police with riot weapons tackle protests largely involving teenagers.

    Police too have been injured, as have dozens of headteachers.

    One teacher in Angers was seriously injured when he was struck on the head with an iron bar - his attackers were apparently not from the school.

    The question has now become how to stop "unbridled violence" as much as deal with high-school shortages. The crisis is also deeply political, with presidential elections only months away, and that makes the government's task that much harder.

  12. Hundreds of schools shut by unrest as French students protest funding gaps

    French high school students gather outside the Lycee Voltaire high school as part of nationwide protests to demand the hiring of substitute teachers, increased resources and better learning conditionsReuters

    More than 400 schools across France have been shut as the French government says student protests have descended into "urban violence".

    Sixty-five staff members have been injured in the unrest and there has been "significant damage" to school facilities, with classes now taking place remotely, French education minister Édouard Geffray has said.

    Student protests have broken out over a lack of teachers and staff, overcrowded classrooms and run-down buildings. University students also joined demonstrations on Thursday. The French interior ministry says 1,949 people were arrested, with 305 police officers injured.

    The blockades and protests at French lycées - for 15 to 18-year-old students - began last week before spreading to hundreds of schools across the country.

    So far, 1,027 lycées have been affected by demonstrations, with blockades at 222 of them, according to the interior ministry.

    At least 30 universities have also reportedly been blockaded, including campuses in Rennes and Paris.

    We'll be following developments throughout the day - stay with us.