Fires and blockades as students stage school protests across France

French authorities arrested more than 400 people, the majority of whom were children, on Tuesday during a nationwide series of school protests. Laurent Nuñez told broadcaster BFMTV that 440 radical successful full had been detained, portion 48 instrumentality enforcement members had been injured. The demonstrations, driven by concerns over crowded classrooms and teacher shortages, disrupted instruction at roughly 400 schools across the country on Tuesday, the Education Ministry reported. The unrest began last week in the Île-de-France region surrounding Paris, where students at lycées — equivalent to sixth‑form colleges in the United Kingdom or high schools in the United States — first walked out. On Tuesday, the student actions coincided with a separate walkout by public‑sector workers, including teachers and firefighters, who protested planned budget cuts in France.