School Protests, Blockades Resume in France Despite PM's Promise to Act

High schoolers again blockaded schools and marched through several French cities on Thursday, a day after Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu addressed the nation promising to respond to their demands without detailing what that response would look like. The movement, now in its third week, continues to expose deep tensions within the French education system.

According to the Interior Ministry, more than 70,000 people took part in rallies held across the country on Thursday. The Education Ministry said 224 high schools remained closed Thursday morning, while 151 others were partially reopening, putting 94 percent of schools either fully or partially open.

On Tuesday, police had already fired tear gas at protesters blockading high schools, as hundreds of thousands marched in several cities demanding improvements to the school system, including replacing absent teachers, lengthening the lunch break, and changing the length of the school day.

On Wednesday evening, Lecornu addressed the nation in an effort to defuse the crisis, promising the government would present a response plan by the end of October. But the announcement, lacking concrete measures or a precise timeline, did not appear to be enough to convince the mobilized students, who chose to keep up the pressure the very next day.

The movement's persistence, despite the government's successive conciliatory gestures, underscores how difficult it has been for the executive to regain control of a social protest that is already piling onto the budget fight over the 2027 finance bill and public debt nearing 122 percent of GDP.

This account draws on reporting by Al Jazeera and South China Morning Post.