2,000 Arrested in France as Student Protests Escalate Into Violence

About 400 schools in France are expected to remain ​closed on Friday after student protests over education-related grievances turned violent in some ‌places.

The protests against teacher shortages and dilapidated school buildings erupted in the Paris region last month but have turned increasingly violent as they spread nationwide, with dozens injured and police making ​hundreds of arrests.

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According to a source ‌close ⁠to Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, intelligence agencies told a crisis meeting on Thursday that the protest movement had been initiated by politicians from the hard left, including members of La France Insoumise (LFI).

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Student protesters started ​fires in at ⁠least two high schools on Thursday, while teachers were inadvertently splashed with petrol at a third in the southern city of ​Marseille, officials said. At least one car was torched in ​Strasbourg in ⁠the east and riot police clashed with youths in Toulouse in the southwest.

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