Since the end of September 2026, students across France have staged a sit-in over the lack of education funding and blocked entry to many secondary schools.

This movement was violent in some places and hundreds of students, teachers and police were injured. Thousands of people were arrested, including an unknown number of rioters unrelated to the schools.

The protesters complain of staff shortages and dilapidated facilities at France's Lycées, high schools for 15- to 18-year-olds.

Madeleine, a student in Paris, told the BBC on Tuesday, as hundreds of thousands of people protested across France: "Sometimes our teachers are absent for weeks and there is no one to replace them." He added that his school's buildings were "extremely warm" in the recent heatwaves.

Interceptions have other reasons. Some students are not happy with the ban on cell phones or the teacher's days that last until six in the evening. One of the high school students told France 2: "We come home at seven and we don't have time to sleep or do homework."

This frustration has deep roots. Now about 80% of each generation receives a "baccalaureate" degree, which gives students the right to enter university, although not necessarily in the field or university of their choice. This situation creates fierce competition for the popular courses and has caused great anxiety towards the parcoursop, a method that many consider opaque.

Riot police clashed with student protesters on Tuesday and fired tear gas.