France student protests: act iii of the high school movement in Belfort, 2026-10-06

France Student Protests Act V: Marches Resume as Thunberg Joins Saint-Denis Pupils

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French high school and university students marched and blockaded campuses across France on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in the fifth national day of action, or “Act V,” of a student protest movement that began in mid-September. By midday, the French Interior Ministry counted 30,000 people at 360 actions outside schools and universities, not including Paris and its suburbs, where the main march was set to leave Place d’Italie at 2 p.m. Climate activist Greta Thunberg joined students outside a high school in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, according to AFP and the Associated Press.

The day was a test of whether the movement could hold its strength after the government announced emergency teacher hiring last week and with the All Saints’ school holiday starting at the end of the week. Follow the full timeline, turnout figures and photos on our France protests tracker.

Act V turnout: ministry and organiser figures

As on earlier protest days, official and organiser counts differed sharply. The Higher Education Ministry said about 35% of institutions under its authority were disrupted on Tuesday, a figure it said included administrative closures, blockades and occupations. The student union Union étudiante said 90% of France’s roughly 70 universities were “blocked” or “closed,” according to AFP.

Education Minister Édouard Geffray told France Inter that “around 200 establishments are closed,” which he described as lower than in previous weeks. His ministry later put the number of closed high schools at 214, compared with 224 last Thursday and about 800 on Oct. 6, AFP reported. Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, citing BFMTV, reported that 21,000 people were in marches by midday in addition to those at school gatherings.

Marches began in the morning in Nantes, Lens, Lyon, Strasbourg and Marseille, where several thousand high school students walked with union members acting as stewards, according to AFP. In Paris, two declared routes were planned, one from Place d’Italie toward the Invalides near the prime minister’s office and the Education Ministry, and a second from the Hôtel de Ville that was set to join it near Port-Royal, according to France 3 and TF1. The Paris police prefecture said it would use camera drones, and two metro stations near the route, Rue du Bac and Varenne, were closed from 9 a.m.

How the movement grew

The protests started at Lycée Saint-Exupéry in Créteil, southeast of Paris, where teachers went on strike on Sept. 17 over unfilled posts and students blockaded the school the next day. Blockades spread to dozens of schools in the Paris suburbs and became nationwide from Sept. 28. The Associated Press reported that students point to dilapidated buildings, missing teachers, school days that often run from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and a university entrance system they describe as unfair.

The largest day so far was Oct. 6, when the Interior Ministry counted 256,000 marchers nationwide, including 56,000 in Paris, while organisers claimed 450,000, including 100,000 in Paris, according to France 24. On Oct. 8, the ministry counted 71,500 and the CGT union said more than 130,000. Our earlier report covered Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s decision to suspend classes for a half-day of school-level discussions.

The main high school union, the Union syndicale lycéenne, is still calling for the Parcoursup admissions platform to be scrapped and for a 10 billion euro plan for high schools, according to 20 Minutes.

Arrests, injuries and police tactics

The scale of arrests has drawn attention in France and abroad. The Justice Ministry said 6,877 people had been taken into police custody as of Oct. 8, about 86% of them minors, and that 2,376 were being prosecuted. Authorities have said about 700 police officers have been injured, Reuters reported,, and that schools have been burned or ransacked and teachers attacked.

The Education Ministry said Tuesday that 147 school staff had been injured since the movement began, including 20 on Monday alone, five of them principals, according to AFP. The ministry called Monday’s figure the second-highest daily toll for staff since the protests began, after Oct. 1.

France’s police watchdog, the IGPN, has opened 24 investigations linked to the policing of the protests, according to the Interior Ministry, France 24 reported. Reuters said it had documented 28 cases of injuries attributed to police force, including from rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas. A 15-year-old in Lens lost a hand on Oct. 5 in an incident involving a police grenade, and Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said on RTL on Oct. 7 that he was suspending stun grenades “for the high school movement” until the Lens case was clarified, according to TF1 Info; franceinfo reported the national police chief had already ordered the suspension. The French Human Rights League (LDH) said it had received about 100 complaints of alleged police violence through an online platform. The government has said the movement has in places been taken over by outsiders and turned into urban violence, according to Reuters.

Government response and what comes next

On Oct. 8, Geffray announced that 3,000 replacement teachers would be sent to more than 500 schools judged to be in serious difficulty. An online consultation for high school students is open until Oct. 23, and Geffray said about 86,000 contributions had been received as of Tuesday. Lecornu said in an Oct. 7 address that “the government’s first decisions will be presented at the end of October,” according to franceinfo.

President Emmanuel Macron, speaking on Oct. 12, called for the protests to take place calmly and with respect for people and property, according to AFP. The high school students’ union said it would meet Geffray on Thursday, Oct. 15, Anadolu reported.

Organisers have said they hope to link up with a “cost of living” demonstration planned for Saturday, Oct. 17, the first day of the school holiday, according to France 3. In the Senate, a government bill that would let the state seek damages from people who stayed in groups that caused property damage is scheduled for debate starting Oct. 27. The protests come six months before the first round of France’s 2027 presidential election, and several candidates have made the movement a campaign issue, the AP reported. For more international coverage, see our World News section.

Featured image: Act III of the French high school movement in Belfort, Oct. 6, 2026. Photo: Thomas Bresson, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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