French security forces on Wednesday detained over 600 people while dozens of police and gendarmes were wounded as protests that have seen blockades of high schools and violent clashes escalated, the interior minister said.
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.
On Wednesday, 625 people were detained during high school blockades, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said, noting an “expansion of the movement” and condemning an “escalation of violence” outside certain schools. The cites worst affected Wednesday included Paris, Bordeaux in the southwest and Lyon in the southeast, and the northern city of Lille where police again used tear gas in clashes, AFP correspondents said. “It is imperative that our students be able to return to class especially those who are currently prevented from doing so,” Geffray said.
The minister slammed the “targeting of law enforcement officers, the throwing of projectiles, acts of violence, verbal abuse, attempted arson, and what amounts… to urban violence. Since the start of the unrest last week, 119 students and staff members have been injured, Education Minister Edouard Geffray said.
Speaking in Madrid, President Emmanuel Macron slammed hard-left politicians he accused of “legitimising violence” in the French school protests.
