France’s Interior Ministry estimated that about 266,000 people took part in demonstrations across the country on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, including about 56,000 in Paris, in support of high school students demanding more education funding. Police used tear gas and water cannons in several cities, and the ministry said nearly 500 people were detained that day.
The movement began at a high school in the Paris region in mid-September. More than two weeks of class boycotts and school blockades have led to more than 6,500 arrests, mostly of minors, and classes were fully or partly suspended at 891 schools on October 6, according to the Education Ministry. Students are protesting run-down classrooms, staff shortages and heavy workloads, and some student groups called for new protests on Thursday.
Image: Student blockade at the Lycée Buffon in Paris, December 5, 2024 (file photo), by Wyslijp16, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.