France shuts up to 500 schools as clashes over conditions injure 78 staff

France's education minister, Édouard Geffray, said on Sunday that 400 to 500 secondary schools would be totally or partially closed on Monday because security conditions were not met, as three weeks of student protests over classroom conditions continued across the country. A similar number of schools had already suspended classes on Friday, he said, with a gradual, partial return expected where safety allowed.

Of 735 schools affected by the unrest, 24 have been "burned or ransacked", Geffray said. He added that 78 staff members in the education system have been injured since the protests began, calling the number unprecedented. France's interior ministry said nearly 5,000 people have been arrested since the unrest began last week, mostly teenagers.

The protests started on 17 September at the Saint-Exupéry secondary school in Créteil, a Paris suburb, initially in support of striking teachers protesting staff shortages. They spread nationwide over the following week, with students also citing overcrowded classrooms, dilapidated buildings, heavy workloads and a ban on mobile phones in schools.

Several serious incidents have been recorded on the fringes of the protests. In Tours, a young man lost sight in his right eye after clashes between pupils and police on Wednesday, the local prosecutor said. In La Ciotat, in Provence, a 59-year-old teacher was doused in petrol and beaten during a pupils' demonstration; a 16-year-old boy suspected of the attack was arrested in Marseille on Sunday. In Belfort, a police officer was chased, beaten and kicked by a group of young people, and two people were taken into custody.

Protesters have set fire to rubbish bins and thrown projectiles at security forces, while police have used tear gas, rubber bullets, batons and defensive ball launchers to disperse crowds, according to the education and interior ministries. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez defended the police response as proportionate, saying officers were acting against vandalism and violence rather than against students exercising peaceful protest.

Teachers' unions said on Sunday they would join the pupils' protest, criticising the government's response as too focused on policing rather than on addressing staff shortages. Paris police chief Patrice Faure said the situation had become "out of control" and urged students to end school blockades. A new nationwide mobilisation, following protests on 29 September and 1 October, is planned for Tuesday.