France: Hundreds of schools remain closed, at least 78 education workers injured, while government accuses far left of 'infiltrating' student protests

Hundreds of French high schools were partially or completely closed on Monday, between 400 and 500 of the country's 3,700 high schools, amid ongoing student protests that have been rocking France for more than two weeks.

The movement, which began in mid-September in support of teachers' strikes, condemns the shortage of teachers, overloaded schedules, dilapidated classrooms and buildings ill-equipped to handle the heat. On many occasions, the protests have escalated into vandalism, with the burning of school entrances, the destruction of awnings and violent clashes with law enforcement.

Since last Monday, some 5,000 people, mostly teenagers, have been arrested across the country, and dozens have been injured. There have been attacks on education workers, while property damage is estimated in the tens of millions of euros.

LFI seeks to capitalize on high school students' anger

Minister of Education Édouard Geffray and the coordinator of the far-left party La France Insoumise (LFI), Manuel Bompard, staged a tense face-off this Sunday on France 2 regarding the high school crisis.

According to La Nouvelle République, the education minister blamed the Insoumis for the unrest on the fringes of the protests. He displayed a post on X by lawmaker Louis Boyard calling for high schools to be blockaded and criticized the phrase "combat discipline" used by LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon. He then reproached "Insoumis elected officials for going around the high schools to start blockades." He called it irresponsible: groups of vandals had joined the protest and, he said, were putting the students themselves at risk.

Bompard rejected that narrative and asserted that "there is only one party responsible: the government," demanding the reversal of the planned elimination of 1,600 teaching positions by 2027 and the freeze on rental assistance for students.

Radical left accused of hijacking student movement

Geffray said radical left-wing activists had "infiltrated" the high school movement, stripped students of ownership of the protest and been extremely violent. Bompard, on the other hand, said this situation is the result of "10 years of Macronism" and a series of failed educational reforms.

According to figures cited by the minister of education, 78 education sector workers and 170 students have been injured, 24 schools have been set on fire or looted, and damages are estimated at between 20 and 30 million euros (between $22.5 and $33.7 million).

Whoever damages public property must pay for the repairs

The government is also moving forward with a bill that would require those responsible for damage to public property to pay for repairs directly, rather than having taxpayers foot the bill.

The bill even provides for the possibility of deducting these amounts from certain social benefits, a measure that has drawn opposition from unions and left-wing groups.

Sophie Binet, general secretary of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), France's largest union, claimed the measure is a "populist announcement" and warned that, in practice, it could end up hurting the most vulnerable families.