Unrest in France intensified as student protests turned violent, with police using tear gas in Paris and other major cities. Protesters set fire to barricades and threw projectiles at security forces, while the Interior Ministry reported 6,100 arrests. The overwhelming majority of those detained were minors.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the protests were being driven by “out of control mass migration.” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz condemned the violence but also linked it to European immigration and economic policies. He argued that open borders and unchecked migration, combined with policies that deny people basic energy services and produce excessive government spending, had allowed frustration to build.
“We would always condemn lawlessness, condemn the violence that we’re seeing in Paris,” Waltz said. He added that Trump had brought the consequences of those policies to light. Trump wrote that the turmoil was not merely about schools, but about “Islam wanting to take over” a once-great country.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu described the clashes as the school system’s heaviest toll in decades. At least 215 teenagers and 85 school staff members were injured, according to figures cited by Reuters. More than 700 police officers were also hurt.
Clashes were reported in Paris, Lyon, Strasbourg and Rennes. Paris police said roughly 300 people had attempted to confront security forces, while demonstrations elsewhere were generally proceeding without major disruption. More than half of France’s approximately 3,700 high schools were blockaded or expected to close on Tuesday, according to the High School Students Union.
The protests began in September over school conditions. Students have complained about teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms, deteriorating buildings and inadequate education funding. Some schools have reported leaking buildings and rat infestations.
Theo Wold, a former assistant attorney general and former White House deputy assistant for domestic policy under Trump, also said immigration was contributing to the unrest. He noted that strikes and street demonstrations were part of the civic culture of France’s Fifth Republic, but argued that violence, lawlessness and rioting were new elements.
The connection between the protests and migration has become a major political dispute. Trump, Waltz and Wold blamed mass immigration for the violence, while reporting on the movement’s origins has pointed to school conditions as the immediate source of the students’ demands.
The unrest has also become part of a broader political struggle ahead of France’s presidential election in April and May 2027. French authorities and political opponents accused lawmakers and mayors from the hard-left France Unbowed party of encouraging the demonstrations. The party denied the accusations.
Source: foxnews.com
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599 | 7 Oct. 2026 | 12:45
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