Photos: The Student Protests in France

Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP / Getty People gather on and around a statue in the center of Place de la République at the end of a demonstration on a day of nationwide protests organized by high-school students and joined by unions and teachers, who for days have been demanding better learning conditions, in Paris, on October 6, 2026.

Stephane Mahe / Reuters French high-school and university students attend a demonstration on a nationwide day of protests and blockades, in Nantes on October 6, 2026.

Demonstrators are voicing their anger over overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages, underinvestment, dilapidated school buildings, recent police actions, and more.

Olivier Chassignole / AFP / Getty Riot police watch a fire at a makeshift barricade set up by protesters during a demonstration organized by high-school students in Lyon on October 6, 2026.

Philippe Lopez / AFP / Getty Riot police charge protesters at the end of a student demonstration in Bordeaux on October 6, 2026.

Lou Benoist / AFP / Getty Riot police face protesting students who carry out a blockade outside Lycée Le Corbusier, in Aubervilliers, Paris, on October 1, 2026.

Jean-Christophe Verhaegen / AFP / Getty A youth is detained by a riot police officer in Nancy on October 5, 2026.

Tom Nicholson / Getty Students block the road outside Sciences Po during a protest on October 7, 2026, in Paris.

Lou Benoist / AFP / Getty Protesting students gather and hold placards as they blockade part of Lycée Turgot in Paris on October 5, 2026.

Yves Herman / Reuters Carole Zerbib, the principal of Lycée Vauquelin, talks with journalists in front of the school’s damaged entrance doors and a pile of bicycles and garbage bins set on fire by protesters, in Paris, on October 5, 2026.

Jean-Francois Badias / AP Students tear down a traffic light next to Lycée César Baggio, which was blocked in protest of the government’s release of next year’s draft budget, in Lille, on September 29, 2026.

Christophe Archambault / AFP / Getty A police officer aims a riot-control weapon during a demonstration in Bordeaux on October 6, 2026.

Yves Herman / Reuters Protesters walk through tear gas amid clashes at Place de la Nation during a demonstration in Paris on October 6, 2026.

Thibault Camus / AP Police officers spray students with pepper spray near Sciences Po as they protest under-resourced schools, in Paris on October 7, 2026.