France’s student protests turned violent on Friday, with fires burning across cities, clashes between protesters and riot police and hundreds of schools disrupted as a movement over education conditions spread nationwide. The ministry of national education said 564 schools were affected on Friday, while nearly 400 high schools were expected to remain closed.Images from Paris and surrounding areas showed burning barricades and rubbish bins, while protesters confronted police in several cities. Riot police used tear gas and made arrests as authorities moved to clear blockades outside schools.The protests began last week in the Paris region over overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages and deteriorating school buildings before spreading across the country. More than 1,200 high schools have been disrupted or blocked at some point during the mobilisation, education minister Edouard Geffray said, according to BFMTV.Geffray said the movement had “changed in nature” and was “being hijacked by violent groups”. He also said nearly 400 high schools were expected to be closed on Friday.The unrest intensified on Thursday, when authorities reported fires at schools and attacks on staff. In Marseille, police said protesters surrounded a fire truck responding to a blaze at Saint-Exupery high school, forced firefighters to leave and then set the vehicle alight. A headteacher at Victor Hugo high school was also attacked and injured, prosecutors said.Police reported more than 1,900 arrests on Thursday, while 305 officers were injured, according to the interior ministry. Authorities have also reported injuries among students and school staff.The government has said it respects the right to peaceful protest but has ordered police to break up blockades and respond to violence and vandalism. Officials said fireworks and other projectiles had been used against police and school staff, while the interior ministry alleged that people intent on destruction had joined the student movement.Students, meanwhile, say they are protesting conditions they consider inadequate, including long school days, staff shortages and overcrowded classrooms. The demonstrations have also drawn university students and spread beyond France, with protests reported in Belgium.The unrest comes as France heads towards its next presidential election, adding a political dimension to the protests.
