Students continue to protest in France as hundreds of schools close

Hundreds of high schools in France are closed as student protests continue against rundown schools and teacher shortages.

Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon told CNews television on Monday that the priority was to “restore order”.

Earlier, National Education Minister Edouard Geffray said on Sunday evening, of the 3,700 schools, 400 to 500 were likely to be closed fully or partially on Monday.

Geffray said 24 schools had been burned or ransacked, while 78 teaching staff had been injured since the beginning of the protests.

Nationwide demonstrations erupted at the end of last month at a high school in a Parisian suburb over teacher shortages, before spreading nationwide.

Reporting from a high school in Paris, Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler said students had set up a barricade in front of the building’s entrance using dustbins and fences.

“We’ve been talking to many of the students who have come out here, and what they say is that they are here to have their demands heard by the government. They say they are fed up with teacher shortages and often don’t have teachers for subjects like maths and English,” she said.

“They also tell us that they’re here to demonstrate to show solidarity with other high school students who are in perhaps poorer areas in France with less adequate facilities or in France’s overseas territories. They say all young people should have an equal right to education,” Butler added.

French news channel BFMTV showed images of police and students clashing in Lille, northern France, tear gas being used in Toulouse in the southwest and of a fire being set alight as people tried to break into a school in central Paris.

Carole Zerbib, head of the vandalised Lycee Vauquelin in Paris’s 13th district, said a “very determined” group wearing hoods and masks attacked her school.

While police and firefighters quickly put out the fire and the school was evacuated, suspending classes, Zerbib said it was “very violent and happened very quickly”, adding that the attack lasted 15-20 minutes.

Since September 28, about 5,000 people, mostly teenagers, have been arrested across the country and dozens have been injured.

French newspaper La Voix du Nord reported on Monday that a teenager lost a hand after picking up a police stun grenade.

Teachers and members of the public have also been attacked, while estimated costs of property damage are in the tens of millions of euros.

Student unions have called for a national day of demonstration on Tuesday.