France to shutter up to 500 schools as more student protests called
Education minister cites safety concerns for closures as organisers call for resumption of protests.
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Education minister cites safety concerns for closures as organisers call for resumption of protests.
Up to 500 schools across France will be totally or partly closed on Monday because of a wave of pupil protests that has shaken the country, the education minister said. Lessons will be “totally or partly suspended” in some “400-500” high schools as the security conditions “have not been fulfilled”, said Education Minister Edouard Geffray on Sunday, adding that 24 schools had been “burned or ransacked” since the start of the movement. He described the closures as chiefly a security precaution...
France’s decision to share defence documents with the Italian judiciary has raised hopes of a breakthrough in investigations into the 1980 crash of a passenger jet near the island of Ustica, which a former Italian president claimed was mistakenly shot down by a French fighter jet. Sceptics caution that the files are unlikely to shed light on one of Italy’s most enduring mysteries, let alone reveal a culprit.
The Stade de France was filled to capacity as the new French national team manager, Zinedine Zidane, prepared to make his home debut. The very side against whom he had ended his playing career in 2006 was once again the opponent he faced. Despite Michael Olise’s splendid free kick, the French were quickly overpowered by a clinical Italian side.
Italy's Alessandro Bastoni cancels out Michael Olise's opener for France in 1-1 UEFA Nations League draw in Saint-Denis.
It's been 18 days since we first reported on isolated cases of schools protests at a high school in Rennes in Brittany, in Caen in Normandy and Villeneueve d'Asque on the suburbs of Lille. The complaints were similar in theme, overloaded timetables, staffing problems, poor facilities. It spread to Saint Denis and Creteil on the outskirts of Paris days later, one interview with the students was sen 1.4 million times on TikTok. It gathered pace, and morphed into what we've seen throughout the week, hundreds of protests, some peaceful, some with deeply distressing scenes, beyond the make shift barricades, a school in Nantes set off fire, firefighters forced out of the vehicle in Marseille and the fire engine set alight, scroll your socials itt's hard to miss some of the uglier scenes, a female police officer being attacked on the ground as youths shouted kill her. Where is it heading, and what has it become? Urban violence says the government, accusing agitators linked to the hard left exploiting geenuine concerns for political ends ahead of the election. Which La France Insoumise denies saying they favour no violent means of action. Today in Spotlight, we discuss this with Jean Remi Girard, a teacher in Asnieres in the north of Paris, and the President of the National Union des Lycees and Colleges, covering education workers from primary schools to college, 7 until 18.
Demonstrations started in the French capital, then spread across the country in the days that followed.
France 24's Olivia Bizot reports from the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers, where she says protests over school conditions have left "apocalyptic" scenes in their wake. The protest movement, which began last week in the Paris region and rapidly spread nationwide, has seen teenage pupils block access to buildings and clash with police.
Michael Haigh, global head of FIC and commodities research at Societe Generale, discusses levels of crude and diesel product in Europe’s strategic petroleum reserve. France has proposed that developed nations release reserves to ease surging prices at the pump. He speaks on “Bloomberg Surveillance.” (Source: Bloomberg)
France’s bond market is heading into a period of heightened volatility as political uncertainty collides with deteriorating public finances, according to Nicolas Forest, chief investment officer at Candriam.
Alison Sargent is pleased to welcome Éric Fassin, a sociologist and professor at Paris VIII University. He sees these student protests first and foremost as a demand for equality, dignity and recognition. Students from working-class suburbs are asking for the basic conditions that make studying possible and, ultimately, the same opportunities as students elsewhere. What began among students in the Parisian suburbs has spread, but its fundamental meaning remains the same: this is a social movement with a political and democratic dimension. He also see these protests in the context of a longer history of repression of social movements in France.
Delano D'Souza is pleased to welcome Carlos Mascarell Vilar, political scientist based in Spain. From his own perspective, Emmanuel Macron's visit to Spain needs to be understood by European power, political legacy, and geoeconomics. France and Spain are seeking to reinforce their bilateral relationship at a moment when the balance of power within Europe is changing rapidly, particularly with the growing importance of countries in the east such as Poland. For Macron, strengthening the Madrid-Paris axis is also part of a broader effort to advance European defence and strategic sovereignty.
A selloff in global debt has fueled a rout that’s hitting harder and faster in France than anyone expected, with nerves fraying about missed deficit targets and policy gridlock. The US jobs report is set be a macro highlight at a time when resilient data are supporting riskier assets while giving the Federal Reserve room to tighten policy to fight inflation. Economists estimate the reading will show nonfarm payrolls rose 90,000 last month after climbing in August by the most since March. The Opening Trade has everything you need to know as markets open across Europe. With analysis you won't find anywhere else, we break down the biggest stories of the day and speak to top guests who have skin in the game. Hosted by Anna Edwards, Guy Johnson and Tom Mackenzie. (Source: Bloomberg)
French investigative journalism website Mediapart said Thursday it had been able to authenticate antisemitic messages from 2013 attributed to far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen's de facto deputy Jordan Bardella. The allegations come just seven months out from the election where voters will choose a replacement for President Emmanuel Macron, with Le Pen leading opinion polls.
France proposed that European countries and member nations of the International Energy Agency release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil, a step that’s aimed at placating the Trump administration as it pushes Brussels to do more to cut fuel prices.
As global government bonds wrapped up their worst quarter since 2024 due to higher oil prices and the threat of sticky inflation for the world economy, France is facing a particularly tricky trajectory. OAT-Bund spreads widened sharply as an increasingly fragmented government unveiled plans to narrow the nation's budget deficit, stoking investor concern over the country’s debts. The Opening Trade spoke to guests about the economic outlook and investment landscape for France as the nation grapples with growing global and domestic pressures on it's finances. (Source: Bloomberg)
Worries are mounting and bonds, stocks and the euro are taking the hit.
Erin Ogunkeye is pleased to welcome a high school teacher who agreed to speak with us anonymously as protests intensify at a high school in a northern Paris suburb. The protests are shining a cruel light on major problems that have existed for years. All the while, police are cracking down on students, using teargas and strongarm tactics as students blockade entrances. For this high school teacher, the protests reflect concerns about everyday conditions in which students are expected to learn. Their demands are not abstract political claims. They are asking for an environment that allows them to learn effectively.
Rio Times · Europe Intelligence Brief October 1, 2026 — Two drones hit a Kyiv bridge and the grounds of a nuclear institute; UK gilt yields touch 6 per cent; Germany's inflation reaches 3.3 per cent; France's €54 billion (about US$61 billion) budget meets its highest borrowing cost since 2002; Poland loosens its air-defence rules; Burnham raises rejoining the EU; Serbia campaigns for 25 October. The post Europe Intelligence Brief — Thursday, October 1, 2026 appeared first on The Rio Times.
French teenagers on Tuesday set fire to rubbish bins and threw projectiles at police who responded with batons and tear gas, as pupils kept up blockades and protests at hundreds of high schools, demanding better conditions. The movement in the lycees, attended by students aged 15 to 18 for their final three years of secondary education in France, has angered the government.
France's prime minister convened a crisis meeting on Thursday and canceled ministers' trips to focus on the nationwide spread of protests, some violent, by high school students venting against under-resourced schools, long hours and other complaints. The demonstrations erupted in Paris-region schools last week and have snowballed, with police making hundreds of arrests in clashes with the young protesters. FRANCE 24's International Affairs Editor Angela Diffley tells us more.
?? ? ? High schoolers across #France continued to blockade their #schools on Thursday, trying to form a "blocus" at the entrances of their schools in #protest. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said that 625 people, mostly students, had been detained during blockade attempts on Wednesday, noting "an expansion of the movement". But what are they asking for? FRANCE 24's Tanishk Saha explains.
Thirteen people were sentenced to up to 10 years in prison for organising the crossing of a small boat through the English Channel in November 2021. A total of 31 migrants died when the ship sank.
Hedge funds are loading up on options that will profit if the euro weakens against the dollar as political and fiscal risks mount in France.
As the political stakes rise in France, the country’s equities are looking vulnerable. They are under-performing, under-owned and worst of all perhaps, Europe’s most unloved.
More than 600 people, most of them students, have been detained and dozens of police officers have been injured amid increasingly violent school protests in France. The protests began last week, when some secondary school students started mobilising against a shortage of teachers, over-crowded classrooms and what they argued were unreasonable timetables.
A British-French agreement aimed at reducing the number of people trying to cross the English Channel in small boats has been scrapped, London said Wednesday. The pilot programme was intended to break the business model of "people smugglers" by exchanging undocumented migrants who had made the crossing for people who legally applied for asylum.
A pilot programme between the UK and France that aimed to curb the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats has been scrapped, Britain’s government said on Wednesday. In a statement, the Home Office said the so-called “one in, one out” deal is “no longer processing new cases”. Under the plan, people who arrived in the UK after making the dangerous crossing across the Channel could be detained and returned to France in exchange for an equivalent number of asylum seekers who...