Lycée Protests Shrink While Violence Escalates in Isolated Schools

Overview

• The Ministry of Education reported that 49 lycées were fully blocked on 10 November, a steep drop from the 400–500 closures seen at the peak in early October.
• Incidents have become more violent inside a subset of schools with reported mortar firings, arson and targeted attacks on principals, including an extinguisher assault in Nancy and a paving-stone strike in Bègles.
• Matignon convened Education, Interior and Justice cabinets and announced systematic judicial referrals for offences near schools and continued securitisation after officials counted 609 injured among students and staff and roughly 1,190 police casualties.
• Heads of establishments and their unions dispute the ministry’s single-day blockade count, arguing it ignores temporary closures and filtered access and that many more schools — in some departments up to 30–40% — remain intermittently impacted.
• Parents and teachers report repeated evacuations, damaged facilities and lost class time for exam-year cohorts, and youth groups have kept mobilisation plans with protest dates in November that could prolong disruption.