French PM warns against student violence as public sector strike kicks off

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has warned against an escalation of the demonstrations in secondary schools, which have broken out ahead of a nationwide strike by public-sector workers. More than 100 pupils were arrested on Monday during violent clashes with police. It comes amid mounting anger over the national budget, which is due to be unveiled on Thursday.

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Teenagers have been blockading their schools and demonstrating since last week to protest a string of grievances, including overcrowded classes, heavy workloads and teacher shortages.

The Union Syndicale Lyceenne, the French union that defends the interests of high school students , said it would urge a nationwide blockade of schools on Tuesday, joining a day of walkouts by public servants.

Civil servants, concerned over a new pay freeze, are hoping to pile pressure on the government just days before the budget is unveiled on Thursday.

The movement at French lycées (equivalent to high school in the US, sixth form in the UK) began in the Ile-de-France region around Paris and have spread to other regions.

Four high schools blockaded in the southern Alpes-Maritimes and Var regions, and protests also reported in Marseille, the northern Lille area and Sedan in the northeastern Ardennes, with incidents of vandalism reported and fireworks aimed at police in some cases.

"Fireworks, fires, violence near high schools: nothing justifies endangering students, staff, or police officers," Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu wrote on social media platform X late Monday.

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The high school students' protest has taken on a political dimension seven months before the presidential election , with a showdown pitting the government against the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party.

Lecornu slammed calls from the LFI to expand the protest movement.

"This escalation is irresponsible," he said, while adding that "difficulties of high schools must be heard and addressed".

President of the Ile de France region Valérie Pécresse on Tuesday called for calm in the face of calls by the LFI to join the movement

"There is a call to action being issued by LFI today: 'Trash your high school.' It is being spread via TikTok challenges," she told RMC radio.

According to her, 15 high schools had already been vandalised, and repair costs have already been estimated at €200,000.

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Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told reporters that 164 arrests took place on Monday and 180 schools were affected, adding: "We cannot tolerate excesses."

He said the demonstrations and blockades were "not very typical protest movements".

"It is much more like urban violence, with a number of individuals who were masked, equipped with fireworks in tubes, equipped with projectiles, who clearly wanted to confront the internal security forces," he said.

Nunez said 12 members of the security forces, 12 students and three school staff were injured on Monday.

"It wasn't about making demands, it was really violence in its purest form."

The CGT Union secretary general Sophie Binet called for the government to stop sending police officers to high schools, saying that they were involved in scenes of violence outside high schools subject to blockades.

"What they are asking for is desks, chairs, and teachers, yet the response they get is the deployment of law enforcement," she told BFM TV.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Edouard Geffray said late Monday that there had been "a political hijacking of the blockades by elected officials from France Unbowed".

"We are clearly dealing with urban violence that is trying to hijack what was initially a classic high school student movement and to introduce a violent short-circuit in relation to what school democracy is," Geffray said.

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The LFI-run city hall of the working-class Paris suburb of Saint-Denis in a statement that the students' demands were "legitimate."

"Let (the authorities) come and talk with (the high school students) and see for themselves whether this youth is being instrumentalised, or whether it is simply capable of thinking, organising itself, and defending its own study conditions and its future," the statement said.

Lecornu is trying to build enough public and political support to pass a 2027 state budget through a divided parliament, where President Emmanuel Macron 's government is besieged by opponents, many of whom are unwilling to accept proposed spending cuts while soaring energy costs and other expenses squeeze households.

France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon , a veteran anti-capitalist firebrand, hopes to advance beyond the first round of voting on 18 April and qualify for the 2 May run-off.

Younger voters could be key for his chances. Macron is constitutionally barred from seeking a third consecutive term.

Mélenchon defended the school protesters and accused Lecornu’s government of repressing students with "ferocity" and "an unmistakably racist undertone".

"Don’t touch our young people," he posted, urging France Unbowed supporters to become involved "wherever you can".

Lecornu responded that the racism accusation "is an insult".

"Students have a right to safety. Staff have a right to protection. Police officers have a right to respect when carrying out their duties," Lecornu wrote. "Condemning the violence and those who attack high school students should require less effort from you than smearing those who protect them. It should be easier than fanning the flames."

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