France closes nearly 400 schools amid student protests, mass arrests

Nearly 400 high schools across France were closed on Friday as a week-long student protest movement intensified, leaving dozens of staff injured and about 2,000 people arrested.

According to Reuters, the protests began in the Paris region before spreading nationwide, with pupils blocking school entrances and clashing with police over long school hours, inadequate conditions and staff shortages.

Education Minister Edouard Geffray said “the high school student movement is being held hostage by ultra-violent fringe groups,” adding that nearly 400 of France’s 3,700 high schools were expected to close.

At least 65 staff members, including 40 principals, have been injured since the unrest began.

“Parents must clearly step up and tell their children not to go” to protests, Geffray said.

Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said prosecutors had been asked to hold parents responsible for damage caused by minors.

Around 2,000 people have been taken into police custody since the movement began, “90 per cent of whom were minors,” Darmanin said.