Hundreds of thousands took to the streets on Tuesday, October 6: France’s interior ministry counted 256,000 demonstrators, while student groups put the figure at 450,000. The rallies came amid injuries to pupils and investigations into police conduct.
France saw the third nationwide day of student protests. The Interior Ministry said 256,000 people demonstrated on Tuesday, including 56,000 in Paris. Organisers estimated turnout at 450,000. Morning rallies had already brought around 86,000 people into the streets in about 30 cities, La Nación reported. The Associated Press also cited the ministry’s estimate of more than a quarter of a million participants.
In Paris, high school and university students, parents, teachers and union activists called for more education funding. Their complaints include overcrowded classes, teacher shortages and a lack of substitutes, long school days, deteriorating buildings and opposition to the Parcoursup university admissions system. The Education Ministry said classes were fully or partly suspended at 891 of France’s 3,700 high schools. Authorities deployed 2,000 police officers and gendarmes in the capital. Paris police said about 300 people in the crowd were “hostile”.
The demonstrations followed several serious injuries. In Lens, a 15-year-old student lost his hand when a police grenade exploded; prosecutors are investigating whether he picked it up or it struck his hand directly. In Tours, a 16-year-old lost sight in his right eye from injuries prosecutors said were consistent with a rubber projectile. Another 16-year-old in Argenteuil may lose an eye, while a 14-year-old in Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône suffered a double jaw fracture. In the last case, a police officer was charged and placed under judicial supervision, La Nación reported, citing the authorities.
Education Minister Édouard Geffray said 215 pupils and 85 school staff, including 34 school leaders, had been injured since the protests began. Authorities said 715 police officers and gendarmes had been hurt since 28 September. They reported 6,059 arrests over the same period, including 984 on Monday. The figures were attributed to French officials. The national police inspectorate has opened 10 investigations into possible misconduct, examining camera recordings, officers’ body-camera footage and videos posted on social media.
Officials and protesters dispute both the causes of the disorder and the police response. The presidential administration accused far-left groups of organising violence; the France Unbowed party rejected this as a conspiracy theory. Organisers and anti-racism group SOS Racisme called for restrictions or a ban on rubber bullets and crowd-control grenades. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said police were protecting young people and offered to explain the orders and tactics to parliament.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu set out five priorities: keep classes running, renovate school buildings, improve the organisation of the school day, make Parcoursup more transparent and listen to students. He also promised an additional €1.2 billion for education in the 2027 budget. President Emmanuel Macron was due to discuss the crisis with the prime minister and the interior and education ministers on Tuesday evening. US President Donald Trump separately linked the protests to immigration and Islam in a Truth Social post; that claim does not establish the causes of the demonstrations.