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France: Massive criticism of police violence against student protests
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The French government is fighting the nationwide student protests with repression and police violence. Police experts and human rights organizations criticize mass arrests and attacks. This doesn't deter hundreds of thousands, who continue to demonstrate across the country.
The student protests in France reached a new peak on October 6th. 1,800 schools are now closed across France, reports the newspaper Libération. Trade unions and parents have now also joined the protest - out of solidarity, but also to protect against violence.https://bsky.app/profile/marcberthold.eurosky.social/post/3mx6w4wxpmc2e"...Marc Berthold, France director of the Böll Foundation, writesand reported from the street. The traditionally low-profile Interior Ministry spoke of 250,000 participants nationwide, the French trade union federation of 450,000 - in Paris alone on Tuesday afternoonhttps://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/europa/frankreich-proteste-schulen-100...on the street.
Since the end of September there has been nationwide in Francehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_French_lyc%C3%A9e_protests">Protestsagainst poor conditions at secondary schools. The students are demanding, among other things, more teachers, smaller classes, a renovation of school buildings as well as better financial resources for the state's schools and more equal opportunities.
There have been repeated riots during the protests of the past few weeks. The police responded to this with great severity: they used clubs, rubber bullets, tear gas and even stun grenades against the demonstrators. When these weapons were used, a 15-year-old lost his hand and a 16-year-old lost his sight. More than 190 students have been injured so farhttps://www.spiegel.de/ausland/frankreich-polizeigranate-reisst-15-jaehr...the mirror. The trend is increasing.
The police have now temporarily arrested more than 5,000 protesters, almost 90 percent of them minors. The country is simmering and the government's repressive strategy doesn't seem to be working, but rather is driving more and more people onto the streets.
“No other police in the EU act similarly brutally.”
The police's actions so far have been heavily criticized. Amnesty International called on authorities on Monday to “protect and enable protesters to exercise their right to peaceful demonstration.” Any police response must be lawful, necessary and proportionate and authorities must avoid unnecessary and excessive use of force,”https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/10/france-authorities-must-d...Anne Savinel-Barras, President of Amnesty International France. The human rights organization criticized the use of tear gas, rubber bullets, clubs and arbitrary arrests.
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The French police expert and professor of political science at the University of Grenoble,Sebastian Roche, speaks of an “escalation of police violence” given the number of students who have suffered irreversible injuries compared to previous protests. The methods themselves are not new and correspond to a change in the approach of the law enforcement forces that has been observed in France since 2016, Roché told netzpolitik.org.
However, such an accumulation of serious incidents within ten days in connection with a student movement is a novelty. "The number of arrests is unprecedented. It is higher than during the nationwide unrest of 2023, although these are only blockades of schools, not looting or attacks on police stations," said Roché. For him it is clear: “I don’t know of any other police in the EU that act similarly brutally.”
Human Rights League: “Weapons of war against minors”
Together with a number of other NGOs, the French Human Rights League (LDH) publishedhttps://www.ldh-france.org/stop-a-la-repression-des-jeunes-lecole-nest-p...Monday a statement, which criticizes “scenes of outrageous violence” and “arrests on an unprecedented scale” as well as the use of “war weapons against minors.” The repression is a disregard for the basic right of young people to freedom of expression and their freedom of assembly.
The signatories are calling on the government to start a dialogue with the protesters, to treat children as those in need of protection, to ban the use of military weapons at demonstrations and to adopt a different police strategy.
The statement, which was signed by, among others, the French trade union confederation CGT, the association of parents' associations, teachers' unions, and student and pupil associations, also called for participation in today's demonstrations. The idea behind it: to protect the students from further violence by participating.
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This happened, for example, in Bordeaux, wherehttps://www.liberation.fr/societe/education/en-direct-blocus-des-lycees-...a report from LiberationAdults placed a human chain around the students to protect them. Images can be seen all over the country of adults now joining the youth protests.
French government considers police operations to be “proportionate”
In the afternoon, the French government announced the suspension of school lessons from Wednesday until the weekend. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez justified the police operationshttps://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/europa/frankreich-proteste-schulen-100...about France Inter as “proportionate”. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu contradicted the allegations of police violence and saidhttps://www.liberation.fr/societe/education/en-direct-blocus-des-lycees-...are about “accidents”. According to Lecornu, police violence would suggest that there are political instructions for police repression. That is a lie.
Live streams from the protests currently show the police in Paris using tear gas against the demonstrators.https://www.liberation.fr/societe/education/en-direct-blocus-des-lycees-...reportthat stun grenades will be used again.
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