France's school protests turn violent as nearly 2,000 are arrested in a day
More than 160 high schools were shut as students protesting overcrowded classes and crumbling buildings clashed with police. Two school leaders in Marseille were splashed with petrol.
Protests by French high school students over overcrowded, run-down schools turned violent on Thursday, with 1,949 people arrested and 305 police officers injured.
Protests by French high school students over overcrowded classrooms and crumbling buildings turned violent on Thursday, with nearly 2,000 people arrested in a single day and hundreds of police officers injured.
More than 160 schools were shut and about 900 blockades or related incidents were recorded across the country, ABC News reported. Police arrested 1,949 people, and 305 officers were injured.
The unrest is fast becoming a national crisis for the government, spreading from the Paris suburbs to Marseille, Strasbourg, Nantes, Toulouse and Lille. Around 30 university campuses were also blocked.
In Marseille, a school principal and a deputy were splashed with petrol. In Nantes, a fire was set at the entrance of a high school. A headteacher was doused in petrol and fires were started at two schools, Reuters reported.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez condemned what he called "unbridled violence" and said intelligence showed a radical-left organization was involved.
The hard-left France Unbowed party rejected the claim. Its national coordinator, Manuel Bompard, accused the government of "sinking into conspiratorial thinking," and party leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon said the party had called for non-violent methods.
The students' complaints are about the state of their schools. They cite classes of 35 or more pupils, teacher shortages, leaking roofs, broken toilets, cramped cafeterias and classrooms that overheat during heat waves.
The violence has gone well beyond student blockades. School principals and their deputies have been harassed and assaulted, rubbish bins set alight, bus shelters smashed and tram equipment damaged, according to ABC News.
Police conduct is also under scrutiny. Internal investigations were opened after three students accused officers of brutality.
It is not clear who was behind the attacks on school staff, or how many of those arrested were students.
