The French Minister of the Interior today announced that 440 people, mostly minors, were arrested in high school student protests in hundreds of schools, with numerous violent incidents in which 48 police officers were injured.
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29/09/2026
by
Lusa
“ ANDm the whole national territory, 440 arrests were made”, said Minister Laurent Nuñez to the television station BFMTV, explaining that the detainees caused material damage and confrontation with security forces.
Nuñez detailed that the protests affected 416 educational institutions, against just over 180 the day before, and described the movement as a mobilization that had “expanded” and was accompanied by numerous episodes of violence, including attacks against agents and acts of vandalism.
A total of 48 members of the security forces were injured, four times more than the day before, the minister advanced. Also 31 members of the school team and students were injured, most with minor injuries, according to the balance sheet released by the Ministry of Education.
“ The severity of aggression, especially against security forces, as well as the damage and some actions against employees and teachers, is significant ", sustained Nuñez.
The Minister of the Interior defended the actions of security forces, stating that they intervened “extremely proportionally” and in coordination with those responsible for schools to avoid more serious incidents.
“Violence is never legitimate,” said the Minister of the Interior, classifying the statements made today by the Vice-President of the House of Saint-Denis (Arrestors of Paris), Bally Bagayoko (left), who justified the violent acts “at a given time”.
“ The right to manifest itself is a fundamental freedom that cannot serve as a pretext for such acts”, said the Minister of Education, Édouard Geffray, classifying aggression as “unqualified”.
“ Making claims is a right. Aggress, threaten, burn or prevent others from studying, no ", said Geffray in a message on social networks, in which he denounced shootings and death threats against teachers.
The minister stated that measures were taken to ensure the protection of employees and that legal proceedings were initiated.
Groups of students claim more resources for education and denounce overcrowded classes, excessive workloads and precarious conditions in some institutions.
Among the complaints, there are also excessively high or low temperatures in classrooms and lack of support professionals in schools.