A French mayor has faced criticism after footage appeared to show him laughing and dancing alongside student protesters outside a blocked school as violent demonstrations spread across the country.
Bally Bagayoko, the left-wing mayor of the Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, was filmed joining demonstrators while a fire appeared to burn near the school gates. Protesters could be heard cheering as he moved among them.
The demonstrations, which began last week and coincided with a wider public-sector strike on Tuesday, have developed into a political flashpoint as France prepares to unveil its 2027 budget.
Police have detained hundreds of people during clashes, many of them minors, while the Education Minister, Edouard Geffray, said 76 students and staff had been injured since the protests began.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said about 440 people were detained during Tuesday’s high-school protests. He also reported seven incidents in which hydrochloric acid was thrown at police officers.
Politicians from the hard-left France Unbowed party have taken part in the demonstrations. Bagayoko has been quoted as saying that violence is sometimes legitimate, while other officials have accused the party of stoking anger among students.
In a separate incident, a firefighter was set alight while attempting to extinguish a blaze during protests in Bordeaux. Footage showed the flames spreading up his leg as he approached a burning object in the street.
In Saint-Denis, students gathered outside their school near a fire as police watched. Television images from Lyon and Lille showed protesters throwing projectiles at lines of officers, while firefighters tackled burning barricades elsewhere.
Fadila, a 17-year-old student, said there were cockroaches and rats at her school and that classroom temperatures could vary sharply according to the weather.
“We can’t work in those conditions,” she said.
Another student, Gamze, said pupils in the historically working-class suburb were treated unfairly compared with those in Paris and rural areas.
“It’s always us… who are suffering when, in Paris or in the countryside, they’re not in such a situation,” she said.
President Emmanuel Macron said high schools should remain open and should not be blockaded or have rubbish bins set on fire. The government has condemned the violence while acknowledging that problems in schools need to be addressed.
The unrest escalated further after hard-left activist Ritchy Thibault was arrested for allegedly threatening to burn down the Élysée Palace. Speaking to a crowd in Saint-Denis, he said: “We’re going to attack every police station in this country. Tomorrow, we’re going to set the Elysee Palace on fire.”
The government is expected to present spending cuts in its 2027 budget on Thursday, amid pressure on France’s public finances.
The last nationwide high-school protest movement of comparable scale took place in the 1990s, after access to the baccalauréat was expanded without sufficient additional resources for schools. The campaign secured increased funding, although spending per pupil later stagnated as demands on schools grew.
