Riot police used tear gas as protesters blockaded schools and erected barricades amid nationwide strikes
Riot police fired tear gas at protesting students in Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris, amid nationwide strikes that led to nearly 2,000 arrests across France on Thursday.
High school and university students joined striking firefighters, healthcare workers, transport staff and other civil servants, demanding the hiring of more substitute teachers and better learning conditions. They erected makeshift barricades, blockaded schools and universities, and set garbage bins on fire during standoffs with police.
A total of 1,949 people were arrested on Thursday, up from 625 the previous day. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez condemned what he described as “unrestrained violence,” while the ministry reported that 305 police officers and gendarmes were injured.
Tensions en cours à Saint-Denis : face à face entre lycéens et policiers devant le commissariat.
— CLPRESS / Agence de presse (@CLPRESSFR) October 1, 2026
Usage de gaz lacrymogène pour disperser la foule. pic.twitter.com/qrJXq9xKz3
Education Minister Edouard Geffray said that more than 400 schools would be closed on Friday due to the unrest. He argued that the student movement had been “held hostage by violent groups.”
Mortiers d’artifice contre gaz lacrymogène ce matin aux abords du lycée Diderot dans le 19e arrondissement de Paris pic.twitter.com/6Y5JVe2JB9
— CLPRESS / Agence de presse (@CLPRESSFR) October 1, 2026
Nunez said France’s police watchdog, the General Inspectorate of the National Police, had opened three investigations into incidents in which students were injured. In one case, prosecutors said a young man in Tours sustained head injuries consistent with being struck by a projectile fired from a less-lethal police weapon, according to RFI.
The interior minister, however, defended the overall police response as proportionate.
Aujourd’hui avec les étudiants de Paris 8 on est allés rejoindre les lycéens de Saint-Denis et d’Aubervilliers pour les soutenir face à la répression. La réponse de la police ça a été de nous gazer et nous matraquer, comme ici devant Le Corbusier. 👇 pic.twitter.com/qY4x5QLgQW
— Irène Karalis (@polystirene_) October 1, 2026
The government held a crisis meeting on Thursday, after which the prime minister’s office, citing intelligence services, claimed that the violence had been organized by the left-wing La France Insoumise (France Unbowed, LFI) party and “its far-left proxies.”
🚨🇫🇷Chaos in a Paris suburbs as high school students set their school entrance on fire.
— Mario ZNA (@MarioBojic) September 29, 2026
All the students at this school in Saint-Denis are from migrant backgrounds.
Yesterday, police had to use tear gas to disperse the crowd. pic.twitter.com/mHdfoTlgik
LFI spokesman Manuel Bompard urged the government “not to descend into conspiracy theories or treat high school students like children.”
“This spontaneous movement was born out of frustration with utterly unacceptable educational conditions,” Bompard told AFP.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, LFI’s candidate in next year’s presidential election, called on students to use only nonviolent methods.
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