French teens blockade schools as unions vow day of 'anger' over cost-cutting budget

French teenagers on Tuesday clashed with police as they kept up a blockade of some high schools that has angered the government, with unions planning nationwide protests over a cost-cutting budget.

High school students have since last week staged protests outside their schools over issues including timetables, class sizes and a shortage of teachers, with some blocking entrances with rubbish bins and setting fire to them.

The movement in the lycees, which handle the final years of school in France, started in the Ile-de-France region around Paris, where blockades in some 10 schools were reported by education authorities Tuesday. It has now spread to other cities nationwide.

Masked students gathered outside the Lycee Cesar Baggio in Lille, in northern France, as a bin burned, with police using teargas as clashes erupted, an AFP photographer said.

Teens piled up dozens of bins to prevent entrance to the Lycee Gabriel Guist’hau in the western city of Nantes, while in Paris there was an uneasy standoff between 30 students and a contingent of police at the Arago school.

Similar actions were also reported in cities including Marseille in the south and Lyon in the southeast.

Nationwide demonstrations

At the Lamartine school in Paris around 80 students gathered outside brandishing slogans including “more hours of lessons than sleep” and “8am to 6pm, are we pupils or under arrest?”

The actions came as unions planned a day of nationwide demonstrations and also strikes over the budget of Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, a close ally of President Emmanuel Macron.

Tens of thousands were expected to rally in Paris and other cities, with teachers and fire services striking nationwide although with public transport not badly affected.

“The anger is immense. I warn the government — it must address the demands and revise the draft budget, which is dangerous for the country and is driving us straight into the wall of recession at 200 kilometres an hour,” the head of the hardline CGT union Sophie Binet told BFM TV.

A 17-year-old pupil at the Lamartine school, who asked not to be named, said they had been angered by a lack of resources, overheated classrooms and overly congested timetables.

“We are also there to support our teachers who have a crazy amount of work compared to what they earn,” she told AFP.

Lecornu on Monday said any escalation of demonstrations at high schools would be “irresponsible” and lashed out at the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party for encouraging the protests.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 164 arrests took place on Monday and 180 schools were affected, adding: “We cannot tolerate excesses.”