Student protests in France continue to escalate. A high school principal in Marseille was sprayed with gasoline / Several teachers were reportedly injured

Protests by pupils and students in France spread nationwide on Thursday, with blockades at hundreds of schools and approximately 30 university campuses, amid discontent over overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages, and poor conditions in educational institutions.

In Marseille, several attackers doused a high school principal with gasoline and set fire to a fire engine that had arrived to extinguish a blaze at Saint-Exupéry High School. Another fire broke out at Nelson Mandela High School in Nantes, with authorities reporting no casualties. The attacked principal suffered injuries, according to the public prosecutor’s office.

French media also report that, according to union leaders and education authorities, several high school principals were assaulted during the students’ protests. “We do not tolerate this violence; targeting school principals means completely missing the target,” emphasized Christelle Kauffmann, deputy secretary-general of the SNPDEN-Unsa principals’ union.

The protest movement, which began last week in the Paris region, had reached 356 schools by Wednesday. Police announced that 625 people had been detained, most of them teenagers, while several students and police officers were injured.

Protesters are demanding more funding, smaller classes, quality teaching materials, and the replacement of absent teachers. The government, also facing an austerity budget for 2027, announced a consultation platform for high school students and called for a shift to online classes wherever access to schools is blocked.

President Emmanuel Macron said he understands the anger of young people but condemned the violence. French authorities warn that some groups are moving between schools to provoke further incidents.