French student protests are growing and facing more repression. Students, unions and a farmers' association are calling for strikes and blockades on October 6th.

France's student protests are spreading across the country and across students. While the German media primarily focuses on the violence surrounding the over 900 blockades of high schools in France, a national day of action has been declared for tomorrow, October 6th. On Tuesday there will be over 35citiesDemonstrations take place. Not only are schoolchildren and students called upon not to go to school or university, but also workers and farmers.

Various organizations are calling for protests. In addition to the student unions that exist in France, especially “Union syndicale lycéenne“ and the student association “Union Edutiande“, also the left-wing ecological farmers’ union “confederation paysanne". It is the third largest farmers' union and calls for people to use tractors to support the blockades of schools. But also the teachers' union FSU and the General Confederation of Trade Unions (CGT) are calling for protests under the motto “at your side”.

Nationwide mass movement

The left-wing collective party La France Insoumise (LFI) is also calling for protests. There were already many people at the last strike on October 1stLFI MPspresent at the protests. In many places they tried, together with teachers, to stand between the police and the students in order to de-escalate the situation. Individual deputies like Louis were on the blockadesBoyardcelebrated like stars. The LFI party enjoys high levels of support, particularly among young people.

Police violence and thousands of arrests during student protests in France

The protest movement that arose in the suburbs of Paris quickly became a nationwide mass student movement. In their eyes, the government is not doing enough to address the shortage of teachers, the backlog of renovations in schools, classes that are too large or teaching days that are too long. In France, it is not uncommon for classes to consist of over 35 students and some have classes at school from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

À bas Parcoursup!

The students' protest is also directed against the school system that was reformed in 2018. In 2018, “Parcoursup”, a new system for regulating university admissions and reforming the BAC (the French high school diploma), was introduced. With the reform of the BAC, teaching is based primarily on a course system with special subjects, instead of the previously usual class system.

This is, among other things, one of the reasons for the long school days, which also include breaks lasting several hours. A 2024 for the instituteMontaigneResearch conducted found that 77 percent of young people surveyed said they were stressed by Parcoursup, while 21 percent wanted it abolished.

But the protests do not find supporters everywhere. Especially supporters of the fascistNational Rally, currently the strongest party in France, are hostile to the mobilization of young people. These primarily focus on the violence in individual places, such as a burning school in Lyon or an injured firefighter who wanted to put out a blockade.

They also use racist arguments. The anger of the protesting students is blamed on their roots and migration background.  AlsoVoicesThose who find it legitimate to protest but see students as responsible for the violence can often be found in the media debates in France.

Torn arm of 15 year old

But the police violence against the blockades is also enormous. In particular, she goes from most of the timemasked plainclothes police officersout of. They threw grenades into the crowd or drove their cars into the blockade, spraying pepper spray. Especially the use ofPepper sprayandTear gasagainst peaceful blockades is met with a lot of criticism. AlsoHorseswere used to clear blockades.

The current highlight was a case from Lens on Monday morning. There was after firstmedia reportsand circulating videos, his forearm and hand were torn off by a police stun grenade.

Under another video, a user commented that "the money that was wasted on the police and their ammunition in the last few days was enough to adequately finance half of the high schools."

Job cuts planned despite teacher shortage

On October 2, 2026, the neoliberal Paris government published the planned budget for 2027. This includes further cuts to education. Around 1,600 jobs in the education sector are to be cut, even though supervisory staff, school nurses or teachers are often missing.

France's neoliberal government led by President Emmanuel Macron does not have a majority in parliament to decide on the budget on its own. Especially with a view to the 2027 presidential election and the expected massive mobilizations, it is unlikely that the opposition parties will agree to the cuts.

School blockades are not an uncommon practice in France. Already November1990there was a similar mobilization, with the same demands. On November 12, 1990, tens of thousands of young people demonstrated. At that time, around 4.5 billion additional expenditure by the French state and the creation of student councils followed.

End2018Students supported the “yellow vest” movement at the time with the (partial) blockades of over 450 schools. Even during thecorona-Pandemic, schools were blocked. At that time, the students criticized inadequate protective measures. Even since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza, there have been repeated protests and blockades of school buildings in solidarity with Palestine.

Fighting like the youth in Nepal, Indonesia and Germany?

French Gen-Z protests?

A militant youth movement could certainly pose a threat to the French state. Youth in Nepal recently demonstrated that youth movements can be successful in overthrowing governments. After the so-called “Gen-Z protests,” the government called new elections.

The current protests in France are also part of these protests. Although these can mobilize many young people, according to the communist organization “Reconstruction Communiste“marked by a “political void that exists among French youth.”

The strikes often contain references to the fight against racism, against poor school conditions or to international struggles. However, usually without asking the system question outside the education system.

Another upcoming day of protest has been announced for October 17th. While this day was initially announced primarily on social networks, large unions such as CGT took up this date and called for demonstrations with probably hundreds of thousands of participants.

The postFrance's student protests expand - 15-year-old's forearm tornappeared firstperspective.