French high-school students began protesting in September 2026 over missing teachers, run-down buildings, overloaded timetables and Parcoursup stress. Starting…
A student revolt at Nanterre and the Sorbonne became France's largest general strike. Lycéens joined through their own action committees.
Students marched against university selection. After student Malik Oussekine died following a police beating, the bill was withdrawn and the minister resigned.
In 1990 lycéens protested violence, overcrowding and crumbling schools. Mitterrand received them and the government funded an emergency plan.
A first-job contract allowing dismissal without reason. Months of student and union protests forced the government to replace it on 10 April 2006.
France's online university admissions system arrived in 2018. Protests failed to stop it, and Parcoursup stress is a 2026 grievance.
Police detained 151 young protesters and filmed them kneeling, hands on heads. The video became a symbol of how protesting teens are treated.
Lycéens and students joined months of marches. The reform passed via Article 49.3 anyway.
Several teaching posts were still unfilled. Teachers struck; students blockaded in support, and the movement spread across the Paris suburbs.
By 1 October the Interior Ministry counted 1,027 lycées affected and 222 blockaded, with university students joining.
A police grenade exploded in a teenager's hand near his lycée. How it happened is under investigation.
About 266,000 by the Interior Ministry's count, 450,000 by organisers'. 891 lycées were disrupted.
By 6 October the Justice Ministry counted 5,060 arrests since the start, 87% of them minors, with over 1,800 prosecuted.
The education minister sent about 3,000 unassigned substitutes to the worst-hit lycées and allowed several hundred extra hires.
Lycéens, students and teacher unions strike on 13 October, demanding 10 billion euros. Government proposals are due by the end of October.
Not by when the blockades end, but by whether teachers, buildings and fair admissions show up in ordinary school days.
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