Today in Focus France’s teens versus the riot police
Oct 8, 2026
Angelique Chrisafis, The Guardian’s Paris correspondent, reports on France’s teenagers shutting down schools and taking to the streets. They protest crumbling buildings, staff shortages, overcrowding and unequal opportunities. The movement’s leaderless spread has met an unusually forceful police response, sparking allegations of brutality. Parents and teachers rally behind the pupils as their demands challenge Macron, France’s education system and the far right.
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How One School Blockade Spread Across France
- Students at a Créteil high school barricaded their campus after staff shortages, leaking windows, and missing work-experience supervision became intolerable.
- Similar schools joined, citing holes in ceilings and walls, cockroaches, and rats; hundreds eventually blockaded schools nationwide.
What Students Find Behind School Barricades
- Paris students built dawn barricades from wheelie bins, shopping trolleys, and metal barriers while riot police stood nearby.
- Pupils described overcrowded classes, long school days, missing teachers, and an opaque university admissions algorithm that may penalize disadvantaged schools.
Why The Student Movement Became Unmanageable
- The movement grew beyond pupils as teachers, parents, and unions joined demonstrations over overcrowding, long hours, and unfilled teacher absences.
- Its decentralized structure makes it unpredictable because no leader or single reform gives the government an obvious concession.